quoth the man who caught Hannibal

I'm letting my cut finger air out tonight. I finally am able to crack the knuckle, which is something that has been bothering me for the past few days. I'll still keep it in a bandaid, just to protect it. But yay, it is healing nicely!

Cleaned screens. Reclaimed screens. Finished cutting the stickers that I wasn't able to cut on Friday due to cutting myself. Bagged those stickers. A short day, but hey can't complain about short on a Monday.

Even though I could go, I didn't feel up for gaming night.

I put Anathem on pause to listen to Red Dragon. I really liked the quote “He viewed his own mentality as grotesque but useful, like a chair made of antlers. There was nothing he could do about it.”. Something about it really resonated with me. Obviously it did, because I made sure to look up the quote when I got home. Antlers make for some powerful imagery.

I made a Safeway run, because Trader Joe's doesn't have everything. Though at least Trader Joe's doesn't have trashy celebrity mags at the checkout counter. Bleh.

Christmas Turducken

Pen in sketchbook.

the scanner is back in black

I kicked butt on running errands today! I got groceries for the week. Salad, apples, etc. Also tried the frozen Bibimbap from TJ's. It was okay. I was still sorta hungry after. I also did laundry and tidied up my room.

I also installed my scanner! It arrived earlier in the week, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. So I spent the afternoon scanning my sketchbook. Hurray! So happy to have it. It's a sleek thing.

Game of Thrones was awesome. Diana Rigg has joined the cast as Lady Olenna Redwyne, so I dig that.

My finger is fine. It's still under a bandaid though I do have more movement. No infection, no stitches. Hurray! Lets see how I manage work though. That'll be something.

blood, sweat, but no tears

Friday:

Had a relatively easy end to the work week. Cut some stickers. Listened to Anathem, which is confusing me royally. Ran a couple shirts. Cleaned some screens. As I was cutting sticker at the end of the day, the Exacto caught on something and flipped out of my hand, cutting my pointer finger. The blood ran freely and I quickly washed it out. Andrew disinfected it, but I didn't even wince, and put a bandaid on it. That was super helpful as it's hard to apply a bandaid with your non dominant hand. I went around and cleaned up my trail of blood, and got a few stories from my Boss of the different times he has cut himself. The bandaid was good and secure, and waterproof so that it kept it properly sealed in. No leakage.

I kept my arm elevated and took it easy. Then I headed up to San Jose later in the evening. I think I milked the injury for a proper amount of sympathy from Steve. We got pizza, and then met up with Jenn and Adam and saw Jurassic Park in 3D at the IMAX. SO BADASS! It looked so nice up on the big screen. So crisp and remastered. Mmm. A good way to end the week.

Saturday:

I spent the night in San Jose. Sometimes I feel like driving at night, sometimes I don't. It wasn't so bad heading back down. The Sunday traffic wasn't bad.

Back at home I got to work getting caught up on telly. Hannibal and Doctor Who mainly. I took a nap. Janet posted on Craigslist the advert for the room. It is looking to be a casual weekend. Gotta go shopping tomorrow. Fruit, veggies, all that stuff.

the difference a year can make

A year ago today (April 4th) I left Washington for California. I made it to Medford that day, and on the 5th I pulled into Redwood City to live with my brother while I looked for work. Nate has now moved to Menlo Park (or whatever that area is) and I found work in Santa Cruz. Work in my field doing what I dig. And today of all days, I got a raise! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It was a vinyl heavy day, but rejoice the vinyl was cut a bit better so it was much easier to weed! And I only messed up once, and it was on one that was inconsequential. There were some big vinyl, and some small ones, and some tricky ones and some easy ones. I finished Odd Hours and....I dunno it was a bit odd. It suffered from that "set up" story problem that series often gets, though thus far hasn't been an issue in the series. I think the world building was a bit too unanswered and some of the characters a bit too...charactery. Ah, oh well. I started Anathem and...I'm a bit confused. But I'll keep with it.

I also taped screens, and cut stickers, and bagged stuff. And that was mostly it. I...I think I did something else? Can't quite recall. The boss asked if I'd like to get dinner to talk about work stuff, and I agreed.

At 6:30 we met at Hong Kong Charlie and I got these not quite spicy noodles with pork, and they were so very good. Mmm. Boss and I talked about travels and other things, and the work related stuff was in regards to how good I am! How reliable I am, how on time I am, and all my other good qualities. And then he gave me a raise! And a not too shabby one at that. I mentioned that I was thinking about asking for a raise, as I have had a lot more responsibilities  A little while ago I mentioned in passing how it's almost been a year since I moved to California, and maybe that comment is what spurred his thinking that maybe I should get a raise, for sticking around and being awesome? Either way, YAY RAISE! And yay for having a damn good boss.

At home I watched Elementary. Just such a damn charming show.

Now to do the adult thing and get a good night sleep!

trying to eat more greens

I loaded a good chunk of Anathem onto my MP3 player, so that'll probably be next in my audiobook queue. I've only got about 2 hours left on Odd Hours, so that'll last me through part of tomorrow. I've got a bunch of weeding to do. Way too much weeding. It almost seems like it goes fast but then at the same time it doesn't. I got really crosseyed. Damn cursive logos. So many little bits.

Still so excited about the Neil Gaiman tour.

He will be in Seattle on July 2nd, at the Town Hall Seattle, 7pm. It doesn't look like event tickets are up for sale, but it is a Tuesday. I'll keep you posted, Ma & Pa.

At work I weeded vinyl, cleaned squeegees and floodbars, burned screens, and weeded even more vinyl. It was a full day but it went fast.

Met Andrew's girlfriend who had a really cool name like Julalene...but not quite. Ahhh. She had really nice eyebrows.

Had salad for dinner, and rice crackers with creme cheese for dessert. Surprise surprise, I'm still a bit hungry. My body is too used to being shoveled carbs.

Tomorrow is Thursday! That happened so quick.

Neil in The City

I got my ticket to see Neil Gaiman! June 28th in San Francisco. A Friday. But I'll just take that day (or rather afternoon) off. And the ticket includes the book, so I've got that sorted! Nice. Can't wait to ask him to sign the book to Trillian. Ohhh what ever shirt will I wear!?

AHhh work was long and arduous. Printing a bunch of totes, but because the squeegee ran over the seam it sort of...damaged the screen. And a button on a polo also damaged a screen. Booo. Screens are all fine and dandy until you have to print over something not smooth. There is a pallet with an indent used for zippered stuff, but no such thing for tote seams. But the totes came out looking nice. I'll break down the press in the morning. It was a solid 8 hours and I was glad to get home and in my pajamas. It was a beer and pasta sort of evening. Been eating a lot of salad. Bags of salad are now on my "buy every TJ's visit" list, right there with apples, bananas, and OJ.

Tomorrow looks to be a "cleaning and prep" day at work. I'm down for that.

I am listening to Odd Hours.

Ahhh oh my god still excited about Neil Gaiman. Ma, if I know of a Seattle venue of his, I'll let you know! He was buddies with Douglas Adams, it would be great if you went to a signing and name dropped me. Hehehe.

trust no one on april first

Finished Divergent. I dunno, it started really strong but it had some weak points. Maybe when books are set out to be written as trilogies, then more can be left out of single tomes and so they don't have the best structure because experiencing it you know it is all just the first act. Still, it had some good parts. Though I think so much of the main body of the story was shucked a bit by the way it changed in the end, and there are some holes in regards to world building. Again that might be something resolved in later books, but it shouldn't HAVE to be that way.

Not sure what I'll listen to next.

At work we ran a common job. Took a lot of little tweaks, but we did it. Ran a small job too. I counted shirts. Burned some screens. All in a days work!

My arms hurt all day, I think my groceries may have been too heavy.

I've been taking it easy far too many days in a row, need to do something! Hmm.

Davos Seaworth Power Hour

Saturday:

Amanda moved out this morning. She was out quite quickly.

I watched the rest of Black Mirror, which is the awesome piece of miniseries BBC speculative fiction. Steve's friend Travis was having a little Easter shindig, so I went up yonder to attend that. I had two kinds of meat, brownies, apple crumble, cake, potato salad, veggies, and even more food. Mmmm. I should have had more meat though. It was good cookin'. I played Super Smash Brothers with Nargas' kids, but they were too young to really properly play and kept switching characters with me because obviously that is the way to play better...the in game person not the controls. Hahah. Anyway, that was fun.

I returned to Santa Cruz in the evening, and it was rainy so I went very slow on 17. Not a fun road to take in the rain, but at least when it is late you can take it as you like.

Sunday:

Watched the new episode of Doctor Who as I ate my breakfast, it was charming. I made an extending shopping list, as I needed to get things like rice and jam and the other stuff that I buy about every other month instead of weekly staples (like apples and bananas and granola bars). Went food shopping. Only using a hand cart helps prevent impulse buying, though Toblerones are quite light and small. Not saying I bought a ton of Toblerones, but I did buy more than one.

At home I kicked my feet up and gnoshed and watched Game of Thrones season two. Gearing up for season three, which premiered tonight and was awesome.

Besides food, it really was a do nothing day. Which is nice to have.

emotibrows

A short day at work to end a relatively short week as a whole. I did some banners, I cleaned some screens and squeegees, I counted an order that was all over the place (1 red M hoodie, 12 xxl black zips, 3 navy shirts, etc.). I listened to more Divergent, which is pretty good. 

Did I mention that my housemate Amanda put in her 30 days notice? Soon I shall be getting a new housemate. Hopefully a good one. Janet has good taste in housemates. Obviously, she picked me.

I went at the bathtub and bath tiles with Kaboom! cleaner. I plugged in my fan to aid in the ventilation. The tub looks much more shiny, but the grout could use a second assault. It does look nicer though. My bathroom just...doesn't look as clean as it ought.

I got bored so I drew some eyebrows on my face:

I kinda like them. I have such pale brows. I don't know if I have the courage to wear them out in public though. Baby steps.

letterwoman

Another lovely day at work. Stu and I ran three shirt jobs: a two color on underbase, and two white roto'd. I was pulling the shirts at a very good speed. Certain shirts are easier to put on and pull of palettes. I also coated the screens I reclaimed, and burned a screen, and taped some screens. Not the longest of days, but it was a nice one.

Divergent is quite good, I'll probably do some fanart when I'm done listening to it.

At home I had a scramble for dinner and tidied my room. Steve came down for a visit and I showed him my zines. Thesis is so very long ago, and Portland feels quite distant now. It's not the most fun of feelings to have. I hope I get some time off work soon, because I'd like to drive up to Portland and hang with Madeline, Heather, Daniel, BT, Serenity, Dom, Beth, Samala, and all the rest. Some day. Hopefully some day soon.

Yay, Friday is here! It will probably be a light day. I don't think we'll be running any major major jobs. Maybe some smaller ones.

I also worked a bit more on my correspondence  Just writing letters old school like. It feels nice to do. To write and send things. To old friends and new friends. And getting things back is always a bonus too.

"strop" is a good descriptive word

Now that my scanner is on its way, I'm thinking of projects to do! Yay projects. There is one idea I had of illustrating the bad advice that comes out of ladies mags, though I've been stuck on a title. On going projects. I need to increase my profile as an illustrator. Be popularrr.

Another solo day at work. Boss cut some easier to weed vinyl, and it was indeed easier to weed though it still took some attentiveness. I burned and taped some screens, and counted in some shirts, and did a 4'x8' banner, reclaimed some screens. All in all, a pretty good day. I finished Brother Odd and started Divergent. The "list" thing on Blogger is having issues, so it won't let me update the audiobooks as I listen to them. Hopefully it will be remedied soon. Till then, I'll keep track of what I listen to.

The Odd Thomas books have a really good narrator. Good on ya David Aaron Baker.

At home I had a bigger salad for dinner, and since I was still hungry I put some creme cheese on some rice crackers and ate that. I'm STILL hungry but it's late so any food I eat now will just digest as I sleep and not contribute to long energy. At least that is what I vaguely recollect about eating anything four hours prior to sleeping.

Anyhoo. Got a nice piece of correspondence, so I wrote a response. Got to use my "modern art" stamps, that are so cool. Kinda don't want to mail the Duchamp and Man Ray stamp though...

why did you have to dot your "i's"???

Finally ordered my scanner! Now I'll have to play it nice and fiscal. Less diamond studded yachts.

At work I started off my emptying the trash. Wasn't quite sure what I'd be up to. I did a more thorough press wipe, and hopefully I really got all the wet ink off the press. It tends to get in unusual places. Handles, fronts, backs, all the bits. Tried to get them. Then I dusted the press down. Some of the ink will need a more powerful chemical to get off, but I didn't do that today.

Next I weeded vinyl to float the text onto these die cut stickers. The vinyl was very small and I went very cross eyed doing it, and there is yet more vinyl to weed. Such little letters, though really it is the dots for the i's that give the most trouble. Such little things to watch out for.

I took down the trash and recycling and that was it for the day. At least my boss was sympathetic to my cross eyed condition.

At home I ordered the scanner, and had a salad for dinner. Nummy salad.

Now my eyes need a rest from all their....looking at stuff.

Can't wait to scan stuff!!

on the island (in cards and in television)

Had a very short day due to boss being at a conference thingy. So all I had to do was coat the 20 screens I reclaimed on Friday (some coated easier than others, due to patches) and do a press wipe. Press wipe being a cleaning of the press to make it all spiffy. Started listening to Brother Odd. As much as I like Peter Wimsey, I was missing Odd Thomas. The narrator is like an old friend. I listened to the first book while printing my thesis all those years ago.

At home I took a bath and worked on my crossword puzzle book. I've got 2 solved thus far, out of 200. Go me!

And for the first time I got out of work on a Monday with plenty of time to go to game night! So I went, and the regular familiar faces were there (Andy, Chris, Karen, erm...the others). I had a pizza and we played Around the World in 80 Days, this card game this Chris was testing, this other card game, this Pandemic-esque game. Fun! Hopefully more of my Mondays get out at good hours.

Relaxed at home. Watched Top of the Lake, a gloomy New Zealand set murder mystery with a strong female cast. Nice to see the NZ scenery filmed through a Pacific Northwest lens. Maybe it isn't all tropical and beautiful?

viva Mexican food

Saturday:

Agreed to help Nathan move, though I don't know how much help I actually provided. Anyhoo. Arrived in Redwood City at 3ish and helped pack some shirts and move some boxes out and whatnot. There will be several trips, so not everything needed to get Uhauled immediately. From there we (Nate, Helen and myself) went to the u-store place and Nate filled out the paperwork. Then we got Mexican food and went to Helen's (which was only a couple blocks from the storage unit) and had a late lunch and worked on crossword puzzles. We three solved one! Helen is really good at clues. Nathan got a few as well.

From there we went to Nate's new place in Menlo Park. It was... extremely cozy, to put it kindly. Unkindly, it is really small. But it is month to month, so it can give Nate some time to find a better place. I helped move a couple things in and out. Met the couple who owns the main part of the house (Nate is renting a space that is part of a converted garage or something). Met their dogs.

Nate & Helen set off for the Storage Unit and I set off for San Jose & Steve. Steve was watching King of the Hill when I arrived, and I got caught up in watching a few episodes with him. It's a really good show when you think about how Hank is content in his little life really wants to be a good father though he is at odds with Bobby, how Peggy is very dissatisfied and always wants something more, and the overall themes of small town people fighting big changes. We met up with Kyle and Molly and got ice cream. The chocolate/vanilla swirl that I got was BIG, holy cow! I didn't think it would be, but it was. We wandered around the street and then went off in search of Mexican food. There was a little hole in the wall place (much like the one I went to in the afternoon with N&H) and plenty tacos were bought and we four consumed them back at Steve's. They were damn good too. Mmmm.

I like driving home late at night, because I can go my own pace on 17. That is to say a slower and saner pace.

Sunday:

Broke my habit and slept in on a Sunday. I hade a big scramble breakfast, and did laundry, and had an avocado and creme cheese sandwich for dinner. Didn't really get up to much besides farting around the Internet.

Need to come up with a few more art projects. Maybe design a couple new cards. Oh! Scanner. Still haven't bought one. Dang. I need to get my work address though, so I can have UPS deliver there instead.

Franco, what a hoot!

Weekend! Spring Brea-oh wait, I'm not in college and I have a job. Spring weekend!

It was a solo day. I ran a mail errand before work. Good ol' post office. At work I started by reclaiming 10 screens, then I cleaned the ones that didn't have tape, then I removed the tape from the ones that had tape, then I coated a few of the reclaimed screens with Aquasol emulsion, then I cleaned the rest of the screens, then I reclaimed 15 screens at the end. Not a full day, which was nice. Just me and Lord Peter Wimsey.

My Threadless shirts arrived in the mail, so that was cool. Now I have some neat shirts to wear, wheee!

Had an avocado creme cheese sandwich for dinner. Thankfully I gave the avocado a squeeze and found it to be fit to cut open. It's a good thing to know how to test food ripeness. Avocados, those are fruit, right?

I saw Harmony Korine's movie Spring Breakers, because I was curious. It was a trip. Not quite my type of movie, though it had some nice film work.

Weekend!

it's on Soquel, so it is semi in the right direction for work...

Thinking about joining a gym again. I really want to be in better shape so that I can do my job better. And also getting in better shape while I'm young and it is easier to get in shape than when I'm old and it's...more difficult. Plus healthy, healthy, healthy! And a gym would put me in contact with people.

Hmm. I'd have to work out before work, and hopefully the energy would do me good.

Anyway. Ran the fronts on shirts, Cara/Karah/Kara helped me with a bigass banner. 15'x5'!!! So big. Way too big really, but I did it. And a smaller banner. And I cleaned stuff and chopped stickers. The banner was the doozy. Took a lot of effort, but before I knew it, the day was done!

I ran a little bookshop errand after work, though I didn't find the book I wanted, so I got a more contemporary crossword puzzle collection and a birthday card for Heather and Daniel (their birthdays are about a week apart, so I double dipped, haha).

Do you eat after a morning work out? Before? A little nibble to get your metabolism started?

Welp, I'm going to work on me crossword puzzle book.

in an octopuses topiary

I burned my hand a bit on the heat press. Booo! I was as careful as I could be, but still when you lightly graze something heated up to 315 degrees, it will burn. Though not too bad, it certainly isn't leaking puss.

Oh, there is a new radio adaptation of Neverwhere. I put the first four episodes in Dropbox Ma & Pa, so give those a listen.

Also at work I caught, I taped, I cleaned, and I heat pressed.

After work I went food shopping. Got some salad fixings. Awww yeah salad. Green stuff. I also remembered that avocados exist, so I predict a couple avocado creme cheese sandwiches in my near future. Mmmm. And I bought a shirt from my coworker, one of his octopus designs. It's a pretty rad shirt. Good deal for ten bucks.

I...I need to find something to do in my evenings. But by the time I'm home and cooled off from work, it's past 7. Hmmn.

oh Lord Peter, you crack me up

Taped zee screens, caught zee prints, unboxed zee shirts, printed zee more hats...I can't keep writing like that.

I started listening to another Peter Wimsey novel, though actually it is a collection of short stories. Just very delightful stories across the board.

I also hauled out the trash and chopped stickers.

At home I did jack and squatt. Not really...good. And I forgot to go grocery shopping! I'm out of fruit again (and vegetables).

Tomorrow. I'll do that tomorrow. And I'll have my paycheck by then, so I can go hog wild on salad.

new threads

Pressed hats for most of my shift, and I hope I pressed them right. Placement is tricky. Centering things is hard, especially when the graphics are lopsided. Ah, oh well, it is done so...it is done. Also pressed patches on hats, which is possible. I stamped them down real snug on the machine. I also burned some screens, and since they are for discharge I double coated and hardened them, so they'll be good to go soon.

Cut stickers. Did banners. Finished listening to The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning. Because the book was narrated with a strong Croatian accent, my internal dialogue got a bit of an accent as well. The narrator was really good at a broad range of accents. There was Icelandic, American, and err...others. It was a fun listen.

At home, I relaxed. Watched telly. Bought a couple Threadless shirts, because whenever Threadless shirts are on sale for $10, I have to give it a browse.

Mom, you should buy this shirt, so we can be twinsies! This is also a cute design, but I didn't get it.

Crap, still haven't ordered that scanner.

I wore pants, not cut offs, to work. It's supposed to be low to mid 60's for the rest of the week. Oh well.

There are shirts to print, but they are doing on site installs, so I don't know what I'll be doing during the next couple days. Maybe I'll have a day off? Wouldn't be the worst thing.

bulbin'

Saturday:

Just a stay at home and get things done kinda day. I made a Target run and got lightbulbs, soap, face wash, work shirts, and other household stuff. I got the fancy long lasting lightbulbs. Cuz I'm living large.

Annnd that was pretty much it. I didn't run errands till later in the day, and I didn't get out of bed and on with breakfast till afternoon.

Sunday:

I set my alarm because I didn't want to sleep allll the way in. Had a little breakfast. Got in touch with Nathan. At 2ish I swung by Trader Joe's and got some snackums and then I went up to see Nate in Redwood City. We played some Portal 2 co-op, watched some Adventure Time, ate some cupcakes and candies, and watched a bit of Attack the Block, which is a wicked cool British action alien movie. He had a dinner thing, so we parted ways at 7. I called Steve because San Jose is near to Redwood City, and I went over and hung out with Steve, Molly, Kyle, Adam, and Jenn. Had pizza, drank a few beers, chatted, watched stuff. Had a generally good evening.

Rolled into Santa Cruz late in the night, and all was well. Not a half bad weekend. Bring it new week!

stoked (did you see what I did there?)

Ended the week on a really nice note. It was bright, though not as hot as it has been, though I was still in cutoffs and my shirt, so I really can't complain. I coated the screens and caught the hat transfers that were run (as well as set up and broke down the hat transfers). With hats, you print the design backwards, then put this powdered glue on it, and send it down the dryer. Then you use a heat press to transfer the image to a hat (or any other fabric surface). The paper you print on just peels away. Pretty neat. So we made a bunch of hat transfers, and I finished the day by pressing a bunch of hats. There are more to press, but only a few got done. I also cut up some stickers and stuff. All in all, pretty nice.

Ryan and I caught a showing of Park Chan-wook's film Stoker at the Del Mar. I got popcorn for dinner and I put wasabi powder on it. Wasabi is a vegetable, right? Anyway, the movie was visually quite amazing and the performances were stellar, and oh that sound track! The script was written by Wentworth Miller, which surprised me.

I haven't been out to the movies in a while, it feels like, so it felt good to go.

Might hang with the Brother during the weekend. Or I'll just take it easy. We shall see.

fine for failure to observe mountain

Another relatively solo day at work. It was once again a beautiful day and I was in cut offs.

I burned a couple screens right at the start, then I got to cleaning. I reclaimed 11 screens, and got those drying, and I broke down the press, and I cleaned a few more screens, and reclaimed a couple more, and taped up some, and OH I coated the screens from yesterday. Tomorrow will be more coating, and then I think we'll have a good number of screens on hand to burn. We need to call some of the people to see if they plan on running jobs soon, because there are a lot of screens sitting, and they could be reclaimed any ol' day.

I finished Handmaid's Tale. So good. Started The Left Hand of Darkness, which is pretty interesting. I'm really getting through audiobooks these past couple weeks, it seems. But they are also shorter ones. I define short as 6-9 hours, which is about 3 work days worth of listening, because I sometimes break it up with music.

At home I washed dishes, had a fried egg sandwich for dinner, watched some telly. Might actually properly leave the house tomorrow. We shall see.

nanners

While I like having more daylight, my body still isn't liking the adjustment to Daylight Savings. Still, gotta force it to lay down.

Work was scattered and all over the place, but good news! I'm back in cutoffs! It is warming up. Yaay.

I caught, I cleaned, I reclaimed 3 screens and coated them, I reclaimed another 16 and those will be coated tomorrow. There are still a good 20 screens to clean, but not all are being reclaimed. Screens keep getting set in the "we may run them soon" pile. I think it is better to have screens on hand to run immediate jobs, but I guess it does save a bit of effort and materials if they are ready to go.

I've been sneezing, so I guess my mysterious vague pollen allergy is acting up. It is just sneezing though. Could be dust.

Handmaid's Tale is so good. A damn awesome piece of speculative fiction (not quite science fiction, though in a similar vein). I have it in my library, if you want to borrow it Ma.

After work, which was a nice full day, I went to get banana bread fixings because the bananas I had went really brown really quick for some reason. I doubled the recipe for double the tasty, and they baked up really well. I'll have to think of something to do with the extra buttermilk. Don't want to waste it.

See, with this week, Thursday really snuck up on me. I guess because Monday put me in such a mood that it sort of became this null in my mind. The lasagna has lasted me perfectly all week as a meal. I'll be back to PB&J soon. Unless I hard boil some eggs and make egg salad sandwich.

I just love banana bread. I made it with that turbinado sugar. Mmmm. Betty Crocker can't fail.

he has the haaaair!

Today was a very good day at work! A lot got done, and a lot went very well. It was also very, very warm. I think I might even wear cut offs tomorrow. It was much too hot, but of course the dryer was going and we were running jobs, which makes things much more warm. Ran fronts and backs on shorts, ran fronts and backs on shirts. I just checked the weather. It is supposed to be 70+ degrees in Santa Cruz all the way through the weekend. BOOYAH! Listened to The Handmaid's Tale. Ahh Margaret Atwood. Such a good writer. It was a full day of work. I wanted to make banana bread after, but I was missing some ingredients, so I did not make banana bread. I drew this drawing of Benedict Cumberbatch instead, because they are going to start filming Sherlock soon and I am SO EXCITED!

grumble grumble

Uhg. Tough day at work. Didn't go well. Stressful. Taped up stuff. Ran a job, and while my running was fine there was something with the shirt and ink. Not my fault but still, just...stressful. Things should go smoothly, or at least smooth enough.

Had a restful night sleep as well. Will probably be tucking in early. I guess my body still thinks of right now at 10pm. So maybe I'll sit and bed and read. Just want to relax. Don't like being stressed and stuff.

The lasagna was good for lunch. Num nums lasagna.

Got the package, Ma!

Today left me wiped. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Spring is coming

Be sure to check out the March 11th Google Doodle. It is in celebration of Douglas Adams' 61st Birthday. I wouldn't be who I am without him, seriously.

Saturday:

Got a full 12 hours in bed, and I woke up feeling great. This whole weekend has been excellent in terms of decompacting all the knots and stress that have built up over this past week. I ran some shopping errands, namely to get lasagna making supplies. I also scrubbed the bath tub and shower curtain and washed the bath rug and went at the no slip thing with the hose. My bathroom, since it has no fan, is a total mildew trap. Trying to clean that gunk out. I was mildly successful. The no-slip needs more work, but it does have a cleaner vibe as a whole.

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Steve came down from San Jose for lasagna. He helped prepare it. Well he mixed the cheese mixture up. He may have been a bit generous with the portions as he likes cheese. While it was cooking we drank wine and worked on crossword puzzles. I've never put dry lasagna noodles in the lasagna, as the recipe called for, and I didn't trust it this time around, so I put cooked noodles in. It was a bit...well it became more a lasagna puddle and didn't hold its shape too well when it was cut apart. But it was still tasty. Afterwards we watched Ravenous, a favorite movie of mine.

Sunday:

For brunch, Steve & I went to The Buttery. I had the avocado, egg, tomato croissant sandwich and he had the egg, cheese, and bacon one. Also there were pecan and chocolate treats from the bakery side of things. It was all tasty, as The Buttery has consistently been. It is assuredly a place for me to take visiting relatives.

We walked about Santa Cruz after, because it was yet another beautiful day. Steve had errands in San Jose, so he departed relatively early in the afternoon. I ran my laundry and took it easy for the rest of the day. Watched some telly, folded some shirts, looked into scanners. Since I can get bulk shirts from work, I looked into the brands on the distribution site. Might get some nice solid colored shirts next paycheck. Mmm hmm.

I predict next week will contain a lot of cleaning, reclaiming, and coating, with a few smaller jobs ran.

thank Douglas it's Friday

I am bushwhacked. I am beyond bushwhacked. This week kicked my butt absolutely and totally. And it was a full 40 hour work week on top of doing some really laborious stuff.

At work I taped screens, and they were popped into the press right as I was done. I also cleaned a couple floodbars. It was an 8 color job and it took a few screen swaps to get it right, but we got it right! And it looked pretty awesome. We printed the fronts, I caught. I did some tidying up while the Boys swapped the press to run the fronts. Then I caught the fronts. And boxed them. Then it was time to go home and take my "damn I am tired" relaxation bath.

I'm going to sleep so hard now. It's going to be awesome. I think I'll make lasagna tomorrow. That'll be nice. I'm trying to switch up my lunch meals. I've done pretty good in the not having a PB&J five days in a row front, though the PB&J is a lot more satiating in the long run compared to leftover Chinese food, and the burrito, whole good, also doesn't fill like it ought. Plus it is harder to eat gradually through the day.

I'll probably make more portraits to scan

Blerggh I don't feel too good. I had a very fitful night sleep, and this whole week has been very tiring. Plus I worked a damn full shift today. I heat pressed backpacks, did a banner, reclaimed & coated screens, burned screens, burned more screens. It was a very full day. I got some fast food on the way home, because I was lazy. Unfortunately I don't think my body can really eat fast food any more. At least, not a massive quantity of it. The way I graze through my work day makes it difficult for me to sit and have one big meal.

So I'm going to bed now. So tired. Nice to be having hours though. A nice big full week. It's good to have because I've had some really short days.

I think I said earlier in the week that I'll probably be saying "wow this week went by fast" but it didn't. This week feels like two weeks. At least I can treat myself to a scanner soon. With a scanner, I can scan art, and make art to scan. Wheee!

derp

I arrived at work and Stu was already sorting sweatpants, so I broke down the press and cleaned squeegees and floodbars. Then the job was set up and I ran it. Several hundred sweatpants, and I ran it at good time. It slowed down when I had to drape the pant leg (we printed on one side of the pant only) over the arms of the press (the arm that holds the pallet that gets the stuff printed on). That was run, and that took most of the shift. It was boxed up and counted and numbered and whatnot. I cleaned some screens, so those should be reclaimed tomorrow.

I got out of work at a good time, so I swung by Jiffy Lube and got my oil changed. Then I went home and parked it and there is where my trouble began. At home I changed and then left for Trader Joe's and then my car was like BEEP BEEP WARNING LIGHT WHAT THE HELL. So I drove it back home (I was two blocks away) and called the Jiffy Lube and they told me to come in. So I did. My car was not accelerating past 12 MPH for the last stretch, but through diligence  use of warning flashers, and pulling over to the side when possible, I made it. They gave it another look over and did a scan and said that there was a battery alert and that was all that was coming up and that they didn't do anything wrong. But after having it there and having it sit, the battery charged up a bit, and thinking about a warning message that briefly flashed about parking in neutral, and calling dad, the pieces fell into place and without a doubt I had, like a dumbass, accidentally left my car in neutral (or it had been in neutral at the shop when they repaired it, though driving home should have charged the battery back up) when I went home, and drained the battery. I drove it down Highway 1 a bit, got it up to good speeds, and all was fine.

Now I know what happens when I drain my battery. Like I said, I feel a right dumb ass. They were really nice about it, though I didn't come at them with full accusations of bad service.

After all that, I went to Trader Joe's and did some good proper shopping. Went home, had some dinner, settled in and all was once again well.

Seriously, such a dumb mistake to make.

da-da da-da da-da DA

I dug out my old crossword puzzle book, this one I got in Portland a few years back (yikes, Portland now counts as being "a few years back") and I've been working on the puzzles. There are 50 in the book and I am one solved puzzle away from 100%. Unfortunately the puzzles themselves are a bit dated (1999) so some of the clues need Googling. I should see if Bookshop Santa Cruz has a more up to date puzzle book.

I think I forgot to mention this, but last week at work a chicken wandered into the studio and I had to chase it out. Silly chicken!

We got right to printing, and because it was fronts and because it wasn't so affixed to the pallets and because the fronts didn't make much registration, we were done with the job by 3:30ish! I was properly tired, of course. So very. Tired. Arms, legs, knees, all that good stuff. So many sweaters. Stu caught and Kara/Cara/I should really learn how to spell her name boxed. We chatted about stuff and it was nice. After that massive job, I burned and taped some screens and the press was broken down by Andrew and then I called it a day at around 6, because even though I could have worked more I was properly pooped. At least I have a job that is flexible and not NO YOU MUST WORK THIS MANY HOURS EVERY DAY.

My refund checks went through, so I treated myself to some take out. Num nums. I picked up a menu from Yan Flower and am highlighting the stuff I've tried. It all tastes a bit the same, though the snow peas and water chestnuts aren't half bad and the ginger beef has WAY too much ginger. Now I must research scanners! Weekend goals: oil & filter change, and scanner research. Wheee! Maybe some thrift shopping for work pants. I just wore a hole through the knee.

Welp. Time to rest. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier on my old bones.

Except they are not old at all, just not used to being used. Hhaha.

Oh after work I also took a nice hot bath and worked on crosswords. That bath was awesome. Viva baths!

mondaaaay

Mailed some letters, got to work, set up ze job, and spent the rest of the day printing the job. Boss started, but I took over after the really small sweaters were printed. 468. That is a lot of sweaters, and it took a lot of repeated effort to tug them off the pallets. Tomorrow will be the fronts, but they should go faster because it is a smaller print area and the set up is only underbase and top white. I'm going to get big muscles soon, if I keep this up. I'm looking forward to it.

What was that filter I should get changed when I get my oil changed? Gotta do that this week.

Back at home I relaxed and didn't really move any more once I got to my room. I predict tomorrow will have a similar evening. Yay for laborious jobs!

my banana bits are all gone, boo

Found my book of easy crossword puzzles, so I've been working on those. I've got a few more of the clues, so that is good. Hurray!

I have eight cards ready to post in the morning. That is pretty swell. I'll have to come up with a new design soon. I think I'll come up with several designs, and print a ton of cards, so that I could sell them in an Etsy/street fair type scenario. Have 'em on hand and whatnot. I'm going to run out of stamps at about the same time that I run out of cards.

I made a Staples run to pick up more envelopes. It was a beautiful day. The days are looking nicer and nicer. I can't wait to be back in my cut offs. I have one pair of work jeans that I didn't turn into shorts, and they are getting mighty worn.

I need to get a second pair of work jeans...except they would be clean new jeans and I like to wear older clothes to work because the ink doesn't really come out of clothes. Maybe I'll go thrift shopping or something.

Hmm.

Anyhoo. It was a quiet Sunday. Wrote letters. Tidied up my room.

Another week begins, and soon I shall be saying "wow that week went by fast!".

out and about & in and din

Friday:

Ran the front and backs on a shirt. Broke down the press. Moved on to Moving Pictures, yet another Discworld audiobook. Burnt a couple screens. Sorted and stacked several huge piles of sweatshirts. Lots of printing is going to go down soon. It'll be nice to clock the hours.

After work I got some cupcakes and went up to San Jose and hung out with Steve, Kyle, Molly, Adam, and Jenn. We had pot roast and stew and bread and wine and played Settles of Catan (Steve won). It was a good night all in all. I got back late and promptly went to sleep.

Saturday:

Slept way, way in. Had some funky dreams. Had a massive scramble. Caught up on television. Ate some chocolate covered banana bits. Generally had a relaxing day. Quite nice, really.

I learned a cool trick to multiplying large numbers. It utilizes lines and counting intersections of things.

licensed Californian

When I got home today my mailbox contained my new drivers license (the photo doesn't look too good, but that is the way it goes), my second refund check aka the big one, and a letter from Serenity. Triple score!

Then the interior hall light when out when I turned it on. Oh well.

At work I set up and ran a job, and it didn't need to get the thumbs up from the boss man. I was all kinds of trusted to run it. That was awesome. I also did these heat transfers on these things. And set up the backs on another job. And did four banners. And cut some stickers. And cleaned squeegees. Pretty productive day at the studio.

Can't believe it is Friday already! These weeks are just going by too fast.

title for a post

Another lovely full day! Things are revving up. There are also many many boxes ready to be counted and sorted. That'll be a good deal of work. Hurray, summer season! Almost been here a year now.

Two smaller jobs were ran, but first I burned and taped all the screens. Also bagged the banners and weeded some stuff. Found out my coworker watches Game of Thrones, so now I have a third show to talk to him about. Hurray! Conversation!

I did a grocery run. Trillian recommends Trader Joe's sliced up chocolate covered bananas. Found in the freezer aisle. Yum.

Now the weekend is fast approaching. And March. Time moves fast.

Still waiting on my license and other refund. Come on money!

historical children's fiction, yay!

I had my beloved full work day today! Hurray! I coated screens. I need to mix up a new batch of emulsion. I cut stickers, I bagged stickers, I weeded vinyl, and I did banners. Banners are time consuming and it is hard to do them because you have to be gentle when you fold them over, so they don't get creased and damaged and stuff. I'm all caught up on Tobolowsky Files. Guess it is time to listen to some more audiobooks. First up: The Red Necklace. Narrated by Tom Hiddleston. Yaaay!

At home I had some oatmeal and tea and was properly tired for the rest of the night.

Still waiting on my license and other refund.

Oh and there was a shooting in a neighborhood about a mile from my house. Happened when I was at work. Yeesh.

time to read when all I want is time to work

Ended up working a very short day due to circumstances that should be resolved by tomorrow. I reclaimed some screens, burned and taped one, ate a pork burrito, tidied up the studio.

After work I took a very nice bath and spent more Amazon gift card money (The Marriage Plot, used for super cheap! and The Stockholm Octavo sounded cool). I had some garlic toast for a dinner snack, and took it easy with a big mug o' tea.

I'm hoping the hours will pick up soon. Like...tomorrow.

I suddenly have a case of the tireds, even though I haven't been through much exertion lately.

piles of pork

Saturday:

I think we know by now how I started my day. And what I probably ate.

At 4:30ish, I headed up to San Jose to see Steve. We met up with his friends Molly and Kyle and then we went out for Barbecue at Smoking Pig BBQ. It was a pretty damn authentic BBQ joint. Big cookers outside, food serving on trays instead of plates, piles of meat, live blues/jazz band, not a single air to put on. It was awesome. I ordered a pound of pulled pork, totally forgetting how much a pound of food is, quantity wise. At least I'll have plenty of left overs...for the next three days. I ate until I was properly stuffed (had a mac n cheese and corn bread side) and ate some more and even then it didn't look like I put a dent in it. Afterwards we hung out at Kyle and Molly's and watched TV. Last Exile, Outlaw Star, Archer. Good stuff! There were even Thin Mints, which made my night.

Stuffed with food, and pretty tired I opted to stay in San Jose instead of driving home. Better safe than rolled into a ditch on 17.

Sunday:

It was an absolutely beautiful day, from San Jose down to Santa Cruz. Back in Santa Cruz I made myself a pork, beef, beans, rice burrito for a late breakfast. Spent the rest of the day sitting back, drinking tea, watching stuff, and drinking more tea. ParaNorman didn't went Best Animate Feature, so that was a bummer. I couldn't find a good stream for the Oscars, so I just watched Ripper Street. The good stuff will be available online anyway.

Now the tired is creeping back up on me. The weekend is over already! Back to work. More printing is ahead of me. Printing and all that other jazz.

it was almost 60 degrees today, almost

Uhhgg I don't feel so hot. I got something lodged in my throat while I was eating an apple (possibly a bit of the apple) and I've been feeling off ever since. Maybe I'm just tired or something. Worn down a bit. I'll be going to bed soon, hopefully sleep will resolve whatever it is.

Today was a shorter work day. It started a bit later too, which was nice because it gave me time to run my errands. Got to Trader Joe's and got some snacks and got some cash back. I included some money in my print portfolio, to cover the cost of mailing me my portfolio when they are all assembled. I figure that giving whoever on the other end some money will make it a better incentive to mail me it, as opposed to expecting them to foot the bill. I went to the post office and got even MORE stamps and sent off my package. I'm so set for stamps, except now I'm running low on envelopes. Not dangerously slow, but I'll run out of them before I run out of cards.

At work I burned a bunch of screens, and then taped up those screens. More printing is on its way! And we are printing another seasonal run of the stuff that I first printed when I was hired! Oh how time flies. 9 months? Dang.

Went home. Worked on my correspondence. Went to CTV for movie night. Though it turned into watching Mr. Bean with Ryan, Sarah, and Vietta and then going to see Warm Bodies. So that was nice, despite my cough.

Warm Bodies was very delightful. I had quite a few good laughs, and it is always nice for the heroine in a horror film to 1) not die 2) not run around in heels 3) not have a full face of makeup ALL THE TIME. Anyway, I enjoyed it and the company was good.

Not sure what will take place this weekend. Depends on how I wake up feeling.

carded

Today was super good! My alarm went off at the not so agreeable hour of 6:10am. I got out of bed at 7am, showered, opted not to eat breakfast, put makeup on, and headed to the DMV at about 7:35ish. I arrived at just a bit after 8, which was exactly when they opened. My appointment was at 9, but I was put to the front of the queue, or rather near the front, so I got in at 8:15ish to deal with paperwork, so all was good! My paperwork was approved, I didn't even need to prove my address! Maybe people move more in California. Oh, and I didn't even need my Social Security Card...but it is good to have it, just in case. Then I got my picture taken. I don't know what I look like in it, so hopefully I look good. Then I took the test, and that was nerve wracking! I did pass, though there were some stumpers. The phrasing is what gets you. Still, I passed, and my new license should be to me in a week or so. Hurray!

I returned home, had breakfast, and then went in to work, and I arrived at work at my usual time! All that activity before my shift even starts. I'm very thankful for my 10:30am start. But due to the fluctuating nature of my work, it ended up being that there wasn't much for me to do that day. So after an hour and a half, I went home. Hours will be coming soon, this week was heavy on the off site install stuff, which I don't help with. At home I had a burrito, and set up my screen for printing. It went a lot easier this time around, because I was just using white and black ink for my prints. I printed the white on the card and the white on my "Luck" print portfolio print, and then washed the screen, and then once it was dry, I printed the black on the card, and then washed it out again. And that was it! A good days worth of personal work. Got another batch of cards, and my prints all ready to go. Popping the portfolio in the mail tomorrow and a few cards as well.

For dinner I had an eggy scramble. It was tasty. So all in all, a very good day for Trillian. And tomorrow is Friday. And then the weekend! Wowza.

yup

I reviewed my DMV booklet and took a bunch of the online tests and did really well! Hurray common sense and 10ish years of driving experience. Has it been 10? Well if I got my permit when I was 15 1/2, then yeah. Dang. I filled out the form, got some mail to prove this is my address (hopefully it is legit enough, I don't have any bank docs or bills in my name here).

9am. Tomorrow. DMV. Gettin' it done. I'll have to wash my hair and make myself all pretty for the license...and then show up at work looking all pretty, instead of my usual scruffy self.

I did some banners at work, and ran some shirts with Stu catching, weeded some vinyl, and cleaned screens and floodbars. After work I chopped paper down to size, now I just have to print it! That is exciting.

At home I made some burrito fixings and had some burritos for dinner. Also did my laundry and put the trash and recycling out (as well as emptied the trash and recycling, I'm such an adult!).

Hope all goes well at the DMV tomorrow. I wonder if Ma and Pa are proud that their daughter is growing up to be a Californian.

Ozma is a nice name. Time to listen to some Oz audiobooks!

It was a short, self motivated day at work. But that gave me ample time to do what needed to be done. Which was just get my screen exposed. I coated it with the rest of the stack, and exposed it with the others that needed exposing. I also cut stickers, both vinyl and not vinyl. And emptied the trash. And some other tasks. Oh, taped screens!

After work, I swung by the art store and got paper. I'm printing white on black, and it turns out that black paper is more expensive. But I still only needed to buy two sheets. I also got the paper for my next set of cards. Going with a slightly less saturated color scheme this time.

Now I just need to cut the paper down to size, but I'll do that at work tomorrow after my shift. I don't have a proper tear bar, and I don't want to muck up the paper. Cutting printmaking paper isn't quite the way you are supposed to go, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm getting more precise with my measurements...at least I think I am. Maybe I'm just more precise with my cuts.

Anyhoo. At home, I made myself some garlic bread after doing some shopping. I have a shopping run where I get bananas and apples and the things I eat within a week, and I do a shopping run of things that take me 2+ weeks to go through. So now I have more bread, and burrito fixings. I enjoyed those burritos, so I think I'll make another batch of the filling (it's just meat and beans, nothin' fancy).

I'm nearing the end of the Tobolowsky podcasts, and Snow Crash. I don't know what will come next. Maybe some Oz stories?

Can't wait to get printing!

I wonder how affordable scanners are...

My eyes hurt because I've had the desk lamp on while I work on my print for the upcoming print portfolio. But now I've completed it! Hurray! Well, completed the thing to expose. Now I just need to expose it. I'll only need one screen for the print and the new card, so that is nice.

I started the day with reclaiming. 11 screens, all pretty and awaiting emulsion! Perfect timing, because I'll coat my screen with them tomorrow. I also helped cut down these big prints for an install and weeded more vinyl. It's nice to not constantly be removing ink from my fingers. Good to give the skin a bit of a rest.

At home I worked on art. Got that painting done, and it is ready to be sent to it's owner. Did some magnets. Ate dinner. Then I got to work on the transparency for my print. I cleaned off three films that were left over from my Christmas print. Saving the film from the first card. Might be worth it to hang onto my stationary films, in case I want to do another run.

Not a bad Monday. Tomorrow is looking to be a solo task day at work. I am still not done with Snow Crash. Damn you Tobolowsky, you are too good to listen to!

sketch, sketch, paint, soak, draw, sketch, sleep

It's 1:30am and I just spent the last few hours working on a little portrait of Bofur for a friend (their birthday is coming up, and they don't read my blog). I really dig the portrait, but I'm not going to push myself to finish it tonight because I don't want to overwork it. It's a combination of watercolor with ink line art, a style I really dig.

Earlier in the day I designed my next card to mail out to people, and I worked on my design for the upcoming print exchange. I need to buy more transparency to draw on. I should just get a sheet of mylar, because even at a couple bucks a sheet, it is a lot larger than the smaller stuff, and I can just cut off to size what I need. Too bad the art store closes so bloody early, and Kinkos is open whenever.

Option B is to just use rubbing alcohol on the sheets that I do have and remove the images that are already drawn on it, which are the separations for the Lighthouse Field State Beach print and my last card. That makes them even more special, because I absolutely cannot print them again. Hmmm. Might just do that. I have no desire to print them again, and I have copies of the prints saved for my archives.

So yeah, very productive art day! I also took a bath and read my book and watched Groundhog Day and Pitch Perfect while working on stuff (and watching Walking Dead and Shameless in the evening).

That is it. Trillian out!

Burns always gets under my skin, but in a good way

I spent a good portion of the day sitting on the couch reading Charles Burns comics (X'ed Out and The Hive) and then I got really weirded out by all of reality. So I spent a few hours in a funk and did that drawing as a reaction to the whole experience.

Joey got some morning snuggles in.

I had eggs for breakfast and dinner. I went to the Santa Cruz Diner for dinner, because I was feeling lazy and I wanted an omelette. I had the Capitola omelette, which has bacon, ham, and cheddar, with hash browns and pancakes on the side and hot tea. Mmmm. I read NOT Charles Burns and took it easy.

I was supposed to run errands, but I read instead. Not the worst decision I've ever made.

back in black vinyl

More vinyl! This time it was a mix of big designs that were easy to weed, and little designs that took some effort to manage. There is more vinyl on the way, though I think it might be more big things, and less little complicated things. After the weeding was done, I cleaned the screens in the back. Now I have a tall stack ready for reclaiming! Hooray! It seemed to take less time than I remember cleaning screens to take, or maybe it just seemed that way because I've been cleaning 20 or so screens in a stretch, and this time there were only 10.

Anyway, that was a nice full work week. Good hours, good variety of duties. Still have all my fingers.

At home I watched my telly, had some dinner, and thought about making art but I got distracted by sentimentality and didn't do that.

I was browsing through my blog and my entries used to be a lot longer. Probably because my day to day varied a lot more during school. And some of my older posts seemed more conversational in tone, where as these...I guess not so conversational? I dunno.

I'll still blog. I like having my blog. My little record of the day to day.

the land of the north (aka up yonder over 17)

Today's shift was spent doing one thing, and one thing only: weeding vinyl. There were several sheets, and I weeded out 100 stickers from them. I then papered the vinyl and by the end, had it bagged and ready to give to the client. So that was a lot of time spent listening to Tobolowsky Files and Snow Crash.

The time did move fast though, oddly enough. Get in the weeding zone.

I got some groceries. Apples, PB, J, and other staples. Then I went up to San Jose to see Steve. He made dinner! How wonderful. Chicken and ravioli. Num nums. It was a nice night. And a nice day. The weather has been really swell lately, though I eagerly await sunbathing season.

Aaaand my car has officially reaching 5k miles since last oil change. That seemed to go fast, then again I was living in San Francisco during the last change, and that was about 7 months ago, so maybe not that fast.

So that is another thing to do. Probably this weekend. This is going to be an designated errand weekend. I have errands that need tending to.

Fizz! Buzz! HAVE A BANANA!

Another excellent day at work. Started by cleaning squeegees and floodbars. Gotta get them clean for more jobs, because there are more jobs to run! Andrew set up the job, but I ran it and Stu caught. Went pretty well. Did a buncha pallet changes. Also ran shorts, which was fun in its odd little way. Those got boxed up, I broke down the press, and called it a day. All those things took a good full shift, well maybe not as full as could be, but my arms were pretty tired by the end.

I predict tomorrow will have...burning and cleaning.

After work I swung by Safeway. Another reason to prefer Trader Joe's: no crappy magazines in the check out aisles.

There was nummy candy and Cabin Pressue waiting for me when I got home. Yay!

And now I am pretty tired. This week is taking a lot out of me, but in a good way.

I have dinner plans tomorrow. With Steeeeve. Tee hee.

this Tuesday feels like a Wednesday

I felt like I had ingested pool water all day. You know that sort of chlorine feel? Yeah.

 But I worked like a badass today! Got in, set up the single color back, ran that (Stu caught), set up the front, ran that. No problems. It all was at the right height. The discharge looked great. Stu boxed that. I ate lunch. I cleaned the screens of discharge. I counted shirts and shorts. I taped up screens and plopped those in and lined them up. And I think the boss only had to BARELY tweak one of the screens, the others were fine. At least, I don't remember him tweaking them. BOOYAH! That felt good. I ran the shirts on that and Andrew caught. A nice full day full of goodwork and plenty of Snow Crash and Tobolowsky.

At home I had some pasta and my tummy continued to hurt. I'm almost out of apples. Have to make an apple run.

I think apples are one of my major vices. I just have to have them! I've been trying out Gala, as opposed to my regular Granny Smith. Shhh don't tell the neighbors. I typically eat them on my way home. It's my "done with work" snack. Apple at the end, banana after granola bars, granola bars and peanuts after tea, start the day with tea, main lunch item (sandwich/chili/burrito) sometime after granola bars and peanuts, though often broken into a few chompings. I like having a job where I can munch during the day. Plus the hot water dispenser is good. I just have a box of economy teabags (English Breakfast) at work, so that is what I do when I first arrive. Fill my travel cup up with hot water, maybe some sugar, plop in the bag, sign in on my time card, turn on the lights, get a gander and what needs to be done, and if need be ask the boss what to do. I like my routine. My days change a lot, but it is also a routine.

I wonder where the plays happen in Santa Cruz. I sort of want to see a play. I miss seeing Brynne in plays.

I do have a case of the Mondays

Money woes are getting me down. It's no fun being tight and regretting every transaction that isn't food related. All I can do is work really hard, and hope the hours are long. As well as hope my tax return comes soon.

Being an adult sucks.

Today had some good long hours. Ran the backs on a job. I coated some screens. I tidied up. I broke down the press. I listened to The Tobolowsky Files. I redid the palette peels. I unboxed and counted in shirts. Not all in that order. Not a bad day at all.

Got home. Had some dinner. Watched telly.

oh no, he has a violin, how am I going to draw that?

Odd Owl gets better and better every time I see them. The songs sound better, more refined while also having new vibes to them. Always growing. The new music was great, of course. And the screenprinted drum head was awesome. Viva Carmen for screenprinting it!

They played It's The World I Love, Little Pink Carnations (I forget if that is the song title or just a lyric), Lonely Island (again I should know their song titles better), Radioheart, The Way Home, Some People are Spaceships, among other awesome tunes. Steve and Phil were in suits, Adam was not. They were just swell.

The venue, Yoshi's, was beautiful. All seated seating, chairs around tables. A really nice way to enjoy a damn good band. Nathan, Helen, and I were the second row of tables back from the stage. Josh found us after Odd Owl's set and joined us. We three had sushi (you could order at this venue, which was good because I was hungry). I drew a bunch in my sketchbook. Some really good stuff that I'm very pleased with. My Carmen sketches are my favorite.

What a lovely night! I drove up to Redwood City and met Nate, and we carpooled in and found a parking space just two blocks from the venue! Booyah!

My morning was filled with sleep, scrambles, and some painting. Felt pretty good, despite the bummer that was Saturday.

Today was a very good day in terms of art productivity and good company.

Wonderful.

Thanks to this blog, I know that December 28th, 2009 was when Carmen first mentioned Odd Owl to me, at Grandma Marilyn's memorial. She inquired if I would be interested in doing art for this new band she was starting. Over three years it has been. Pretty coo'.

Odd Owl was followed by the amazing Foxtails Brigade. They had a lady vocalist on the guitar, a guy who stomped on a tamborine while playing the violin, and also playing the guitar, a guy on bass, a guy bonking bottles and drums, and a full on drummer. The singer was fantastic. She sang in French. She had a duet with her brother who wasn't in the band. The violinist was also very talented. I tried to draw him playing the violin but my brain couldn't quite comprehend what a violin looks like. They had such a wonderful plinky plonky sound.

After the show, I got some hugs, and I hope they sold lots of merch. Back to Redwood City we went, and back South to Santa Cruz I went. Another awesome week begins, lets do this!

good night & sucky afternoon

Saturday: 

I am finishing Saturday with a bottle of wine and period BBC television. Oh, and chili.

DOWNTON ABBEY!? WHAT THE HELL? You don't end a perfectly happy final episode on that note! That just...is just too mean. Boo! I am watching the final episode of Parade's End. Finally finishing up TV that has been in my queue for a while now.

Earlier today I ran some errands, and I parked downtown and put 30 minutes on the meter, but my errand ended up taking 35 and it was somewhere in that 5 minute window that I got a ticket. Bummer! Should have put in more. Better safe than...well ticketed. Anyway, I paid my ticket and put it in the mail to get sent off. No use fighting it. At least it was an unexpired meter ticket, not a improperly parked ticket.

And since I was in such a good mood from that ordeal, I filed my taxes as well. Hurray, I'll be getting money back! Enough money equal to about one paycheck, which will be sweet. I'll plop that right into my savings.

Early in the day was nice. Slept in, had some oatmeal, drew some more magnets.

Friday:

Work was short. We were running a job right when I got in, and that lasted a few good many hours worth of catching. Asked coworker for burger place recommendations. Just can't quite get the best burger in this town.

Boxed the job. Ran the front in black on four shirts, and swapped in the white and Boss roto'd that, and that was that. There will be a good amount of work to be done on Monday. Shirts to count, jobs to run. But that is good. Good to have light weeks and heavy ones. I'm ready for a big week.

After work I got my chili simmering. Janet's mom is in town for the weekend and I met her, and she gave me a big hug. Very sweet lady. Steve came down with a bottle of lovely wine to accompany the chili. A very nice dinner. Afterwards, we all (he, I, Janet, Janet's mom) played rummy. Steve and I paired and won the first round, but didn't come close in the second though we did do some nice plays.

It was a lovely night. I enjoy staying in and learning new games.

is it really Thursday already?

Had a very sparse day at work. I mopped the floors, though I don't like mopping because all mopping does is spread the cleaning solution and dirt around, it doesn't really life the dirt up that much. You just gotta scrub it with a sponge. Though the dirt on the floor at work is pretty dang affixed.

I also reclaimed some screens, including my own. Now they are all clean and ready for more art!

Left pretty early, as Boss was on site doing stuff. It was okay to leave early, I talked to the Boss.

I washed my car, as it was a bit dirty. It was a nice enough day too, and it is February! It's nice to have a clean car again. It's all shiny. I went and got chili fixings. There was a shopping cart abandoned in the parking lot next to where I parked my car, so I walked it back to where it belongs. It felt like a Chinese food sort of night, so I went to Yan Flower and got some beef with broccoli, rice and sweet and sour. I ate half of each and all of the rice and then spent a few hours just digesting. I ate way too much. But now I'll have lunch tomorrow! And lunch for Saturday! And once I cook the chili, I'll have that for the following week. Chili, burrito filling, PB&J, oh there is also the enchilada casserole. I like making things that last just until I am sick of eating them (which is about a week). Need to add more things to this list.

Did my work laundry. In my only pair of long work jeans, I wore a hole in the thigh, where thighs rub, so I fixed it with an iron on patch. Booyah!

So tomorrow is chili date night. Yay! Here is a cool video:

Wednesday, woah the week is half way over already!!

AHk, keep getting distracted by other parts of the Internet!

Anyway, I spent a chunk of time this morning on the phone with the DMV, and it took 17 minutes for the automated message to inform me I could make an appointment online, and it turns out I can't even get an appointment to take my test till the 21st. All that hurry for nothing!

Work was relatively short. Cleaned up the area a bit. Unboxed some shirts. Did some more tidying. Cut stickers. Listened to Snow Crash.

Tomorrow I'll probably do some mopping. It's another sort of seasonal studio clean, I figure. Also reclaiming.

At home I had a scramble for dinner. I tidied up my room a bit. I ran a shampoo procuring errand. That was about it.

Have some more cleaning to do tomorrow, and food shopping. Making chili on Friday, and Steve is coming down. I like Steve. He's a tall bearded ginger who is well read. Of course I like him. Hee hee. He is also nice and easy to talk to, which is always good. Hm. Don't usually talk about people like this in my blog. Welp. There it is.

nazdar in the house

Ahk! How is it 1am! I keep staying up late and sleeping in. Not that I've been having trouble arriving at work on time, I always do.

Tomorrow before work I shall call the DMV and make an appointment for Thursday morning to get that license thingy.

At work I coated the screens and listened to Snow Crash and caught some shirts and double coated & hardened some screens. Not a bad day. A full day, but it is good to have full days.

Made way too much pasta when I got home and went into a food coma for a bit. Did laundry. Spent another $10 of my Amazon gift certificate. Only have $10 left. Duh duh duhhhh. I've bought five books with it thus far, so that is pretty good.

Tomorrow I must make myself get up earlier so I can make that appointment and wash my hair.

elementary my dear Joan

It was a solo day at work. Finished both The Maze Runner (not interested enough to move on to the next in the series, even though it is young adult the narrative style came across as really flat) and Nine Princes of Amber (the book felt very abridged and it was interesting, but the production on the audiobook was really weird). So I listened to Cabin Pressure.

25 screens were cleaned, 1 was set aside for future re-running, 4 were taped up for and imminent re-running of the job, and so 20 were reclaimed. Haven't done that in a few weeks. It was a good day for it. I also cleaned squeegees and floodbars. Not a bad start to the week.

In my audiobook queue now is Snow Crash and A Confederacy of Dunces.

At home I took a bath and read in the bath, something I am doing a lot more lately. It is a nice way to wind down after work, and then I climb into jammies all clean and smelling of lavender (the epsom salts have lavender in them, mmm).

Elementary is such a super cute Sherlock Holmes modern adaptation. Well, the chemistry between Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) is really cute. It's a fairly standard police procedural, but it is quite charming. Sherlock wears great shirts:

Those are great shirts! I want them!

Anyway. Monday. And it is two minutes till Tuesday, so time to go to bed.

blunt the knives and bend the forks...

If I finished my California Driver Handbook, I promised that I would treat myself to The Hobbit as a reward. And I did finish it! So I saw the Hobbit, and it was lovely. I had my eye out for the Dwarf ladies with their muttonchops, and they did not disappoint. The goblin escape fight gets better and better each time. It was a lovely note to end my weekend on.

And now that I am done with that booklet, it is time to get my license! Wheee!

Slept in. Had my big scramble breakfast. Suffered through the booklet.

Now to go to sleep. Another work week commences! The screens are stacking up and are in need of cleaning. That will probably happen tomorrow...reclaiming soon!

the speed limit in an alley is 15 mph

Spent the day working my way through the California Driver Handbook. Learned that drivers CAN go into the bike lane to turn, so long as they do so in under 200 feet from their turn. There were a few contradictory bits, like pedestrians give right-of-way to drivers at places that are not intersections and crosswalks, but drivers give right-of-way to pedestrians at ALL TIMES. Which is it? Anyway. I shall finish the guide tomorrow, and that will be that. Then I just gotta get up early and go to the DMV and take the test and hopefully they won't throw anything out of left field at me.

I was woken up by doggy kisses.

Had bacon eggy scramble. Watched some telly. Chatted with Janet. Lazed about the house.

Once I get the license, then I am a Californian. Then I can start getting all the official California stuff, like insurance and AAA.

Adulthood, here I come!

fun friday in the little beach city

Blimey, I'm tired!

Work was, well, work. Caught several jobs. Cleaned squeegees. Got more magnet scraps. It was pretty warm, though it cools down fast.

After work I swung by Walgreen's and picked up some lavender epsom salts, and other things, and when I got home I had a nice hot bath and drank a nice cold beer and read a nice awesome book.

Later on in the evening I went out for First Friday. Janet had invited me to this show that friends of hers had work it. It was at the Felix Kulpa gallery, and the gallery show theme was work inspired by Tom Waits. It was really cool. Some of the reductive woodblock prints by Bridget Henry (who Janet knows) took my breath away. Just big, complicated, beautiful prints. Lots of layers.

From the gallery I went to a movie night at the CTV station (where Ryan works and has the space to set up the projector in). Met Jesse, Veitta, James, and Daniel. We watched Slither, which was my choice and was backed up by Jesse. The majority hadn't seen it and we were feeling in a horror mood. It is so ridiculous and gross, but Nathan Fillion is amazing. We had a comedy cool down with an episode of Mr. Bean. The group hadn't seen the infamous putting on swim trunks OVER trousers scene, and they loved it. Then Ryan and I watched an episode of Peep Show and I said my good nights.

Tomorrow I maaaaay catch a matinee of The Hobbit. It is at 12:40, so I'll see how I feel in the morning. From then on, I think I'll read through my California Drivers Book and work on other to do things. Be a doer this weekend!

must be a Thursday...

Spent my night drawing on vinyl magnet scraps. That was fun! I have plenty more to draw on too. Just little portraits. I turned this magnets into "to do" list item holders. So each thing I have to do is written down in order and is magneted to my red metal shelf. I like it that way. Yup!

Got my W-2, so now I have to do taxes. Hurray! Should be...easy?

Work was another sticker printing/chopping session, with fun machine oil changing time. I rigged the air release valve so that I wouldn't have to sit and press it for 10 minutes. I rigged it with just a piece of tape to hold the thing down. Hahaha. Easy.

Burned & taped screens. It was a relatively short day. Weeded some stuff. Halfway through Maze Runner.

Future Present Tense is one of my favorite tenses. I like narratives that take place in that way. It's a false sense of assurance.

Went food shopping. Yay food! The cashier was named Steve. I've met a lot of Steves since leaving the Pacific Northwest.

jam on toast for dessert. mmm.

Hurray for respirators because we were using an enamel type ink and the solvents to break it down were pretty toxic. Amazing how they didn't eat through the emulsion though. That stuff is tough! It is neat all the different ways to go about doing this and that. Stickers have to air dry, and they have to be durable, so you have to use a specific ink different from the plastisol and waterbased kinds. Anyhoo, I think this is the second time I've been around for running these types of stickers. Making a note that chopping them vertical first takes less time than chopping them horizontal. Chopping = taking the sheets of dried stickers and using a paper cutter to chop them into individual stickers.

Today was very much a sticker day. Spent a lot of time cutting stickers down and weeding vinyl. Finished Unnatural Death and started The Maze Runner. Fun to go to the Young Adult genre every now and again. No swear words (ahem Horns). No one gets killed with shards of tile (ahem Die Trying). No one talks about voodoo sacrifices (ahem Forever Odd).

At home, I had some pasta and watched my telly. I'm taking it easy on the "doing things" front till after I've paid my rent and get my next paycheck. Then I'll do those things that really need doing...both fun and obligation wise things.

But I got the car rego and put that on my plate, so that is one thing down. Just a bunch else to do.

I should make post it notes of all the big "to dos" and post them, then as I do them, I can take them off the wall/wherever I stick them.

January just ran right out.

wow it is almost February

No jobs were run on the press today. My arms got a break. I burned some screens and taped them up. I weeded some vinyl. I finished Forever Odd. Almost done with Unnatural Death (I've been flipflopping between those two books). I also cut stickers and cleaned the pallets and removed the tape from the screens that are waiting to be cleaned and reclaimed.

At home I took a bath. I really need to get some epsom salts or something. Make my baths a real experience, though there isn't enough hot water in the tank to make a really big hot bath. Ah, oh well.

Had some pasta. Started watching Blackpool, this BBC series with random dancing interludes. It's also a murder mystery. It is a bit odd, but David Morrissey and David Tennant are in it, so I ain't complaining.

udon arms

My arms feel like noodles. I was pulling sweaters off the press all day (well half the day). Every muscle I have in my arms is quite used. But that is a good thing. More muscles = better worker.

My housemate Janet is back from her trip to Hawaii. Now the house doesn't feel so empty!

Also at work I set up the jobs, and broke down the press. My coworker is also back form being ill. All is well. It was comfortably warm at work.

I need to go food shopping again. I wish food stuck around longer, but I have that tendency to eat it. Boo!

headed for the hills

Saturday:

I made a road trip snack run Friday night, and when I got back, Ben was there! Hurray! We three got up at 7ish and Helen arrived at 7:30ish and then we hit the long road for Kirkwood. There was a Starbucks stop. We played road trip games. I'm really bad at I Spy. Helen is really good at it. It was a bit crowded in the Prius, but we all fit.

We arrived at Kirkwood Mountain Resort at around 11. I decided not to snowshoe, and instead to just hand out at the base and draw what was around there. Helen rented her snowboard, Ben got his boots and board. We had some food, and then those three went up the lift and I was left to my own devices. I trotted up the mountain in an area away from skiiers, and got fairly far up but I kept going down to my knees in the snow, which wasn't quite fun because my shoes were not right for that type of snow, and I was just in jeans, and my shoes quickly filled with snow which got my socks wet. So the rest of my day was spent in wet socks, which made the going cold. I got some drawing done, regardless of the cold. Drew people, drew the mountain a bit. It was hard to find a good place to park it though, and I didn't have waterproof pants so my bum would have gotten soaked fast. Ah, learned some lessons. Bring waterproof pants (except mine are in Washington and are being worn these days by mom), wear better shoes, bring lots of extra socks...yeah that should do it. Helen finished up a bit early and we hung out by the fireplace in the lodge. Nate and Ben finished at 4 (when the lifts closed) and we all head back down the mountain. We stopped at Hoot N' Annies, but I was tired and took a nap in the car intending to come into the restaurant a bit later...but slept through the whole meal. I plugged in my MP3 player and we listened to jams all the way back to Redwood City. Ben headed out, I put on dry socks, and chilled out a bit, and then I headed back to Santa Cruz. It was a nice drive, though a chunk of 101 has really bad road.

Sunday:

Steve was in town early in the day, so I mixed up a bigger scramble for a late breakfast/early lunch and we went for a walk up Ocean, over on Soquel, down Seabright, and back on Broadway. It was a beautiful day. He headed back relatively early, and I spent the afternoon cleaning house. Swept the hardwood floors and kitchen, scrubbed the kitchen floor, did the dishes, washed my work clothes. Making it all look nice.

I wish this weekend had an extra day...hahaha. When I do something I always want more time in which to do nothing. Funny how that works.

Some photos, courtesy of Nathan:

up north a bit

Nathan doesn't have anything in his fridge. He has nothing at all! It isn't even turned on! Doesn't even have ketchup. What's up with that? Had some tea though. He has tea and dry stuffs. Right now I'm waiting on Ben to arrive, then tomorrow we three are going to Kirkwood Mountain! They will snowboard and I'll snowshoe, and it shall be fun fun fun!

Work was relatively short. (Nathan says "HEEEYYYY!!!" I don't think he likes me blogging about him). Anyway. I ran the job, and ran the sleeves on the job as well. Broke down the press, cleaned things. It was a sunny day. A little bit rainy, but overall really nice. Looks like winter is over in Santa Cruz!

I did some laundry and washed the dishes, and then I headed up to Redwood City. I have a key to Nate's, so I let myself in and relaxed and dug through the cubbards looking for food, and came up wanting.

Anyway. Tomorrow should be fun. Pedersen cousins assemble!

always the best advice

My coworker is out sick, so I'm head job running honcho! I showed up at work, fired up the compressor, got the dryer going, got the screen on head six aligned, ran a tester, got the thumbs up from the boss, and programmed the Roto mode. Go self capable awesome me! Ran that job, and ran the backs on another job that I'll run the fronts and sleeves on tomorrow. Getting all kinds of skills! Or rather improving them. Making myself valuable and part of the team and what not.

Checked my car oil in the morning. I'll probably get to my next oil change before the oil runs down (it's at about 1/5). Could put more in, I suppose. Pa, what kind of oil does the car take?

I got a late birthday present from my friend Dee.

She hand embroidered it! In the other corner is my initials, "hoopy frood" and a pan galactic gargle blaster (specifically an image of a lemon slice intersecting a gold brick). How cool and awesome is my new hankie!

In the evening, I hung out with Ryan at the CTV station. He is the production manager there, so he can use the projector and stuff after hours, which is a totally rad way to watch movies. We had an 80's double feature of Legend (young Tom Cruise! his gams!) and Heathers (what a dark, black comedy and Winona Ryder was so adorable).

Oh my. Now it is well past my bed time, and tomorrow is a day that I should probably get around to washing my hair on. I do so only a couple times a week, to reduce damage and because natural oils in your hair are actually good for it. Plus hair washing takes time and I am lazy.

Out, damned ink! Out!

Ran the shirts today! Wheee! Getting better. Washed my hands a bajillion times because white ink just...sticks to skin and I was pulling black shirts, which will show smudges. Anyway. Feels good to run a job. I also taped screens, and weeded vinyl. I like to listen to Lord Peter Wimsey novels while weeding, so I paused Forever Odd and started Unnatural Death. Mum, I highly recommend Wimsey novels. They re full of delightful Holmes references. The narrator is really good too.

I'm feeling tired, so I might go to bed soon.

It was quite a long day at work. Also did the squeegees. Nice to get hours.

My poor hands are all kinds of slathered with lotion. Washing them a bunch isn't good for them, but it does kill germs. Alas, poor cuticles, I knew them Horatio.

Had burrito, and it split into both my lunch and dinner. Meat and beans are reasonably priced, so I think this shall be making its way into my diet as a regular easy lunch staple. I keep trying to remember what I ate for lunch during my college days. I guess I walked to Safeway more than I thought?

After work, I sat in the bath and read from The Big Over Easy. Jasper Fforde has such a universe to his books, I'm glad I'm acquainted with the various references.

little toot

The great thing about having Monday off, is suddenly the week is halfway over and it is almost the weekend! Yay! Not that I dislike working, not at all. But some fun things are in store for this weekend so I'm excited to get to doing them.

Anyhoo. I ran the fronts of the sweaters on today's job. And while it was slow to warm up, I did get to the point where I was pulling and putting them on the pallets faster than the machine, which is a good place to be.

After those were boxed up, I broke down the press, removed the tape and excess ink from the screens, taped up some screens, put away the ink, and burned a few screens. There was some loitering, but all in all it was a good full day.

I spent a bit of my Trader Joe's birthday gift card and made burrito fixings (meat and beans). So now I'll have some variety in my work lunch diet! I had a burrito for dinner, so I guess I'm testing to make sure I don't toot the bedcovers off. That would be an embarrassing thing to occur at work.

25 years young, with hopefully 75 years to go!

Prezzies! Cupcakes! Sleep! Wheee!

Made myself a scramble, because I'm the birthday girl and birthday girls eat scrambles. I stayed in today, except for when I went to The Buttery to get myself birthday treats. The cashier/helper lady asked if my parents read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I wish more people got where my name is from, but they often don't. I got a little cheesecake thingy, which was good though it was a meld with a cupcake so not like a slice o' cheesecake. I also got a brioche and the jam and butter it came with was a perfect taste combination. And finally there was a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate mousse and a caramel drizzle on top. Now THAT was good. Mmm.

From Ma & Pa, I got two Jasper Fforde novels (yay!) Becky Cloonan's Dracula (oooooo!) The Hive (wheee!) a nice Moleskin in the paperweight that I like (niiice) two water brushes (TWO!) and a Trader Joe's gift card (food!). Celia gave me a felted oven mitt, a scarflet, a shirt, some felted soap, this special secret recipe stain remover, and chocolates! I'm so spoiled.

It was nice to just take it easy. Lounge about. Eat cupcakes and watch telly.

last days as a 24 year old

Saturday:

• Slept in, of course. 
•  Got cashback at Trader Joe's and some snacks for the drive up. The couple behind me in line was really nice, and they were from Poulsbo so we bonded over being far away from the gray weather.
•  The drive up to San Francisco was uneventful.
•  Carmen and Josh bought some guinea pigs and named them Merlin and Arthur. They are quite cute.
• Carmen and I took the N Train to tonight's venue. 
•  The gig was Trails and Ways with My Satellite and Tremor Low.
• Phil and his brother Stephen were also at the gig. Phil and Carmen both bought me birthday drinks. Nice people. 
•  It was a good show. Not hop around and dance type music, but I dug it. Tremer Low moreso than Trails and Ways, which was the headliner.
• We ate sushi down the street and it was good. 
•  Cabbed it back, though it wasn't that late.
• It was nice to sleep in that big cozy bed that I slept in all those months ago while looking for, and eventually finding work.

Sunday:

• Woke up relatively early for me, though Sundays tend to be early days.
• Had some oatmeal and tea and chatted with Josh and observed the guinea pigs.
• I was a bit late leaving San Francisco for Oakland.
• And my GPS refused to locate any satellites.
• So I got turned around, and turned around again.
• And arrived on Lakeshore an hour later than planned
• But I made it!
• Finn, Robin, and I drove onwards and parked and had brunch at Cock-A-Doodle Cafe.
• We browsed the used bookstore while waiting for our table.
• I had the eggs benedict. It had avocado and it was delicious. I ate it with my hands and made quite a mess of it, and I probably embarrassed my companions but they have good poker faces.
• From there we returned to Robin's, where I parked.
• We walked down to Lake Merritt and went into another used bookstore (though it also had new books). George Grosz's autobiography caught my eye. I want to read more biographies and non-fiction, so this with my Lucrezia Borgia and Berthe Morisot tomes will make for some good historical reading when I eventually get around to it.
• Finn treated us to coffee, though I had hot cocoa, and we sat by the lake and Finn read to us from This Is How You Lose Her as the sun set. It was a nice time. Finn biked away.
• Robin and I drank wine and watched Clueless.
• Then we drank tea and watched a bit of Basquiat.
• Then I drove home.

And now it is past midnight, so I guess I am officially 25.