up a volcano and to the end of an island

Sunday at the National Park:

National Park visiting day! We were out of the hotel just before 9. Had a long drive ahead of us, but to get to the other side of a whole island in 2 hours? Not that much of a huge drive compared to anywhere on the main 48. Anyhoo. I took a nap for half the trip, so that was easy. At the visitors center I changed into pants and shoes. In the bathroom. Obviously not IN the center. I bought some postcards and a patch and magnet, then we watched the video about the eruptions in 1969 and 1970.

Volcano House, across from the visitors center, provided lunch. We had a view of the still venting crater in the middle of the main lava flow. The weather on this side of the island is colder and windier, but not awful. I found a crushed penny album in one of the Volcano House gift shops, so that was awesome. I crushed some pennies in one of the machines in Volcano House. Then it was hiking time! We drove to the Kilauea Iki Trail starting place. It was a medium length trail that went half way along the edge of a lava flow crater and then down into it, and then back up. It wasn't venting like the other one. Totally safe. We switched from sleeves to jacketless and back to sleeves several times on the journey. For some parts it was warm and moist, and others the wind cut right through. It was lovely though. Nice to go along the edge and look down and see the worn path of people hiking the same path for years. Nice to descend down and get a gander at all the different kinds of rocks. There were other people hiking, but it wasn't crowded. When we got up out of the crater, we were pretty sweaty. This park seriously lacked benches. The trail head opened up at the Lava Tube, so we walked through that.

The end of the road featured lava that flowed into the ocean as recently as 2003, and there was a store with a cool shirt design, which I got. We grabbed some photos and then headed up to the Jagger Museum for sunset. The lava in the steaming crater was still glowing.

We stopped for gas on the way back and I bought us all ice cream. We picked up dinner fixings and called it a night.

Monday Around Kailua Kona:

I slept in and took it easy. Ma and Pa went to the time share meeting thingy and I cruised around the Internet and had some bread and tea. Nice to have a casual start after all that uber hiking of yesterday.

Later in the day we went to the Kona Brewing Company, in Kaileua Kona proper. Huzzah! We got a sampler of beer to accompany our lunch. It was quite tasty and warm. My bratwurst had to cool down a bit before it was consumed. We drove further south and swung by Snorkel Bob's and picked up a snorkel because my current one is broken.

We tried to visit a coffee plantation, but they were closed. Alas. I dropped some postcards in the post. GPS took us to Lava Lava, where we enjoyed Mai Tais as the sun set and live music played. Nice.

Not the most packed of days, but hey not every vacation day has to be.

feral cats

I'll sum up today...tomorrow.

Day two! First full day in Hawaii! We spent it checking out a few beaches. A nice casual start.

Woke up at 7, which my body thinks is 10, so technically a sleep in! Went to the buffet at 8, and bought myself some food. Piled high the protein with sausage and bacon and eggs, and threw down some potatoes. Green tea and guava juice as well. Mmm. Ma and Pa arrived at 8:15 and Pa got a plate and Ma ate the fruit.

We swung by the ABC Store and got some provisions and then it was off to the beaches!

The first stop was Black Sand Beach, which had some nice snorkeling. It was open to the public though we had to sign in at the gate. My snorkle was brken but Ma was nice and let me use hers. So many pretty fish.

It was windy and that was blowing the sand in our face, so we moved on to Hapuna State Park Beach. Lovely! No coral or fish but plenty of soft sand, no wind, and nice surf. We floated for a good long while and caught a few waves and body boarded a bit. I ended up a bit pink from today's endeavors, but far from burned. I changed back into my clothes and we drove up to Hawi for lunch.

Hawi was windy but quaint and cute. We ate at Bamboo Restaurant. I ordered the stir fry with shrimp but it came with fish, but I'm fine with fish. Mmmm! It was really good and the portions were nice, so no left overs and no over stuffed feeling. Very good restaurant. We wandered up and down the street through town. Well town is a bit over selling it, but it really was nice. I bought this awesome handmade in Kona turtle mug. It's very cute. Lookit how cute it is:

We traveled up North to check out this hike, but the weather came in and rained on us, and it was cold and windy. Well cold for Hawaii. So we went South again. I napped.

Back at the hotel, we rinsed the sand off in the hot tub. I showered the rest of it off and had left overs for dinner. Ma and Pa made a food run and I loafed around on the internet. It took a while to get the DVD player running, but we did it. We watched the first half of Pacific Rim before Ma and Pa called it nighty night.

Tomorrow we are going to the volcano! Hurray!

Cruz to Kona

oi yoi yoi, today has been long. I am now three hours behind, so that means it is midnight. Today started at 5am. Guh.

Got up. Packed up the last of my things. Justen was up without me having to ask, and he took me to the airporter pick up and dropped me off. Boarded said airporter and got to San Jose Airport in good time. There was another guy in the airporter. Some dude.

I checked my bag. 26 pounds. So I can bring 24 pounds of macadamia nuts back with me. Or as the airline people joked, "I can help if you are overweight!"

The line to get through security was slow, but I was in no hurry. One lady was called on the loudspeaker and she went into a hurry very quick. Once through, I got a sausage muffin and cruised the internet. San Jose airport has poor food options, but free wifi. So it balances out.

The flight wasn't booked solid, so the person who was seated next to me ended up moving to a vacant pair of seats. Which is awesome for setting piles of books in the spare seat instead of having to dig them out of a bag from under the seat. I napped shortly after my in flight meal.

Landed fine in Honolulu with plenty of time to spare. I got a soda and a burger and onion rings. No wifi in Honolulu. Not free anyway. Boarded the plane and this time it was full and I had a seating partner. It was a quick 45 minute flight. I worked on a crossword puzzle and before I knew it, we were coming down!

Ma and Pa had arrived shortly before I did, and it was hugs all around. The Kona airport is nice. It has a very open air plan, with gazebos instead of buildings. Oh it was warm and lovely. We picked up our rental car (Chevy Cruz) and went to check into our hotel.

The room is insaaaaane! I have my own bedroom and bathroom, both of which are large. Ma and Pa have their room and a bathroom that is bigger than my new bedroom! And there is a kitchen and a decent sized fridge. It's a condo moreso than hotel room, though I don't think Ma and Pa will be suckered into the time share.

Anyhoo. After we got settled in, we drove to the beach and wandered on it. There were several wild cats seeking affection. Oh! There is a cat that showed up at our sliding back door. We named him Duke.

After the beach we went to the shopping center place and saw a dance school perform some Hula and Maori dancing. Very nice. Dinner time arrived. I had the meatballs. It was okay. A big enough portion for leftovers, so that is good.

Back at the room. 9:30 Hawaii time. 12:30 tired long day for Trillian time.

Halloween & Hawaii

Last day of work. Vacation time! It was so far away and now it is here. I'm all packed up and ready to go! Confirmed with the airline. Whooo!

And work was nice and short. Caught a bit. Reclaimed a full racks worth of screens. Cleaned screens. Burned and taped screens. Boss was nice about me taking a vacation. No resentment, though maybe some jealousy. BECAUSE HAWAII! YAY!

Got home and put on my Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction costume. I painted on sideburns and did my eyebrows. There were a couple trick or treaters, and thankfully I had candy to give them. I did Tara's eye makeup for her pin up costume. Then I headed over to Davina and Eric's to mooch and help them with candy. With handing out AND eating candy. So I did that. Hung out with them. Ate food. Ate candy. Drank wine. Saw many cute little kids, though very few of them had home made costumes.

I returned to my abode and packed up the rest of my stuff. It's certainly not a full suitcase right now. Plenty of room for souvenirs.

day before the day before

Got mostly packed up! I might pull a few shirts out of the suitcase, but it's pretty light and far from packed or even full. Lots of room for chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I'm just going to check it all the way through. Carry on shall be laptop backpack and satchel. I don't have any travel snacks, but I figure I'll get them once I get inside the airport and through security.

Went to Target and got some shampoo and conditioner, as I'm running low. And some candy to give to kids tomorrow. And some cash back for travel. And paper towels. The paper towels don't have any travel importance, we just needed them.

We finished up the tedious job at work. I cleaned some screens. Listened to Thrilling Adventure Hour and Stuffed You Missed in History Class. Such an awesome and informative podcast. I missed a lot, as it turns out.

I did laundry when I got home, just so I had the full range of articles of clothing to choose from when it came to packing.

I'm a Ravenclaw, what house are you in?

Back to work! Coated the screens that had dried over the weekend, so now the exposure room is nice and full and should be good for the week that I'm gone. Hopefully the studio doesn't burn down in my absence.

Caught the job. My knee has been hurting me a lot lately, so that is no good. It's the weather I suppose.

On the way home I got some oil for my car, and some skin care stuff. Changing my routine. See if I can get my skin REALLY nice, instead of just okay. Working on self improvement type stuff.

Tomorrow I need to get my packing on, and make a list of things, and maybe go buy some candy for trick or treaters. Do all my errands so that Thursday I can relax.

Home was relaxing and not getting up to muching.

Really wish my knee didn't hurt so frequently. It's just that pain where you want to pop a knuckle, except magnified. At least all my coworkers have some sort of injury, so they can sympathize.

surprise three day weekend

I got up and was all set to go to work, and then bam got a text from the boss telling me to take the day off. Works for me!

I didn't go back to sleep, as I was already good to go for the day. So I finished my freelance stuff for Odd Owl (booyah!). And watched two more episodes of The Tick with Justen. And chatted with Tara. And ate more of my crockpot lunch. And walked to Target for odds and ends. It's raining right now, which is notable for this city. Watched telly. Tidied my room. Pretty productive.

only a few days till Hawaii...I should start packing!

Saturday:

Yard work day! Got up to bacon as made by Justen. We walked around the front, side, and back yard and figured out what needs to be done and we divided up the shores. Tara and I took a lot of the sweeping/leaf clearing jobs. I also picked up pinecones. I listened to podcasts and worked up a sweat. Not a bad start.

The chicken did indeed microwave better. Goes well with rice.

Since I agreed to help Eric and Davina hand out candy, I went downtown to get a costume together lickety split. Walgreen's provided the UCSC shirt and the thrift shop provided the running shorts. Bam!

Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction costume! Easy!

I watched The Heat (or did I do that Friday?) and relaxed and didn't get up to much of anything else. Really not a Halloween party person. My knee is hurting something fierce too.

Sunday:

Slept in, so that was nice. I'm trying out Chia seeds with my oatmeal. Don't know if it does much, but it hasn't killed me so that is good!

Did a quick Trader Joe's run with Tara. I suggested she be a pin up for Halloween and she says she is going to go for it! Yay!

Also wasted most of the day. Ate pizza and watched three episodes of The Tick. Then I watched Homeland and wondered what I was doing with my life. But only for a little bit. I'm good at thwarting those feelings of long term life goal searching.

it was warm but now it is cold

Made yellow curried chicken with potatos in the crock pot. It ended up a bit dry and the spices didn't really absorb. Not awful and a total loss, but not something I'm eager to take up. But hey, I've got a few days worth of easy meals. Make some rice and that'll stretch it more. Maybe it'll microwave better.

Work was short due to tricky stuff. But I coated screens and reclaimed another big bunch. We'll have so many screens for next week! Gotta have them, as they'll need 'em for when I'm not around.

As I was paying for my airporter fee, I realized it would be a really good money laundering front. Not much overhead, not much paper trail if you make it cash.

At home I got the crockpot going after a TJ's trip. Tara was able to show me the hottie at the store that she liked. He was pretty hot.

Hung out with Eric and Davina, the neighbors. Might help them hand out candy on Halloween.

Tomorrow is yard work day and...I dunno what else. Open weekend?

crockery and night walkies

Another fun full day! We ran these shirts that took lots of different color combos based on shirt color. Some were black so they needed white and red, some were red and needed white and black, some were white and needed black and red, but different ones had different texts. There was a lot of stuff going on and it was a frustrating design.

Reclaimed and burned at the end of the day. It was very chilly.

Thrilling Adventure Hour, Sawbones, and some Stuff You Didn't Learn in History Class were my podcasts for the day.

Made a little Trader Joe's run for bread and some misc food stuffs. My crockpot recipe book arrived, so now I can look at that for weekend recipe picking! Whoo!

Sent off another sketch.

I found a wallet in the TJ's parking lot, so I turned that into the lost and found at TJ's. Well the sort of back desk where lots of people were. That should be the right thing to do. Hopefully it gets back to the owner.

I wanna go back to Nordstrom Rack and buy more discounted braaaas.

and I'm....from Earth

I don't think I can eat cabbage. Makes me toot. Well I could eat cabbage, I just can't have anyone be near me. Boss got Charlie Hong Kong. He asked what I wanted and I said "surprise me" so it was salmon and noodles, same as he got. I was sad it wasn't something funny like pork butt. Next time.

Worked a full long day. Lots of cleaning and reclaiming at the end of it. 18 screens! Very good. Go me. Caught a little bit, but I was mostly on the other end of the studio. Burning too. Did that. Got through a lot of Thrilling Adventure Hour. Love the Sparks Nevada run of stories. And I listened to some Radiolab.

Got home later in the evening. Had some tea. Worked on my gift exchange. Have to get it mailed by Friday! Also got my check for my deposit, so I shall be sending that up North to get deposited. Got it all back, so that is good.

podcastarama

Put in a reservation for the airporter and called in the favor with Justen to get a lift! Whooo!

Work was pretty good. Wore my other new pants. Got ink on the butt of them. Ohhhh well. Not much ink. Caught jobs. Cleaned stuff. Finished listening to MaddAddam. The ending felt a bit hasty, but otherwise it would just be drawn out needlessly. So I guess I dug it. Now I'm full on podcast listening mode.

Podcasts in my queue:

• My Brother, My Brother, and Me
• Judge John Hodgman
• Stuff You Should Know
• Radiolab
• Sawbones
• Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
• Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
• Stuff You Missed in History Class
• The Infinite Monkey Cage
• Thrilling Adventure Hour
• Welcome to Night Vale

Well I say queue. I just sorta add a random smattering of these and listen to whatever floats my boat. I listened to a great Radiolab about color, and started one about Guts (surprise! Mary Roach is on it! Love her!).

At home, Tara, Justen and I watched MacGruber. It was silly.

I inked and scanned and sent off something that I hope is final! And worked on something else.

Hmmm. What clothes should I bring to Hawaii? My wolf tank. My Eternal Scout jacket. Hmmm. Cool clothes, to be cool in Hawaii!

surrounding myself with cute things

Monday! And we got a good amount done. I burned a bunch of screens. Jeff and I listened to the Hardcore History podcast and learned about Ghenghis Khan. Well we listened to part II of V.

I caught shirts...and caught more shirts. And taped screens. Also listened to the Stuff You Should Know and Thrilling Adventure Hour podcasts. Pretty informative stuff.

At home there were two goodies that arrived in the post for me! Yay, goodies! One was this wall mounted bottle opener I commissioned from BT, which has a John Finnemore quote on it. I'll post a picture once it is installed. It's really swell. The other is this hanky with Aidan Koch's art. I have it draped on my lamp. I like buying art, and it supports cool people so yay! But now I shant buy stuff because HAWAII! Looking into airporters. There are several options, so that is nice. I'll see if I can get a lift to the airporter before I make the res. Get the favor in, then secure the spot.

My room is taking on a very eclectic and cute tone. Lots of patterns. Trying to make it a nice space. This move has really brought on a lot of melancholy. I miss Joey and Janet.

attempting teriyaki

Kinda a blah day. Slept in. Went to Trader Joe's and picked up some food stuffs. Got chicken teriyaki going in the crock pot. It wasn't that awesome. Tasty but nothing special. I'll probably eat it all within two days too, as I didn't have much chicken left. I drew. Did laundry. Yeah.

After all that excitement on Friday and Saturday, just couldn't keep the momentum going, I suppose!

happy fun time

Friday:

The weather is giving us the run around! It was super hot outside, but we kept the garage door cold so the concrete of the studio radiated mostly cold from the night. It sucks when it gets really cold, because it is pretty much just one big cold seeping upwards.

Ran jobs. Jeff and I listened to the Hardcore History podcast about Ghengis Khan. That was super intense, and a bit multi parter! Can't wait to listen to more. The latter chunk of the day was spent reclaiming, cutting stickers, and then coating those newly dry screens. Nice to have lots of screens to work with! Though we are going to run up short on 305s. Busy times are coming! I could probably pull a few extra shifts and count them during my holiday week.

At home Justen and Tara were all, "lets go out and do something!" Justen's friend Michael came over to join in the downtown fun. Girlmode was activated and Tara did her hair and I did my makeup. We went to 99 Bottles first, because I was hungry. Knocked another number off my card! Then we went to Blue Lagoon, where there was dancing and a few more drinks. I think I pulled my neck muscles head bangin' to Nirvana (which is apparently dance music now). This guy Alex knew Michael, and this Alex looked SO MUCH like an Alex. When he arrived at the table, like I thought I knew him because I knew his name was Alex...he just permeated Alex-ness. But the night was fun! I danced and chatted and had a good time. Got back at 2ish and went to bed content.

Saturday:

In the early afternoon, I went to the Bixby house for what will be the last time. I scrubbed the stove and cleaned the fridge inside and out. And there were last tidbits to pick up. It was so...empty. No chairs or tables or brickabrack or piano or art. It was just...empty. And really sad to walk around, but I couldn't even begin to understand Janet's feelings! 15 years of living somewhere...packed up!

Joey was so happy to see me. She came running and thwapped me with her tail and got so many pets.

I returned home and had some lunch. Then began the first trip of what would be an uber day for shopping!

Palace Arts for supplies for my new Reddit gift exchange (Joss Whedon themed, I'm going to do a portrait of Mal). Then I went to the thrift shop downtown that is always 50% off. I didn't find any good pants to turn into work pants. Nothing near my size...THOUGH I did find two pairs of shorts that fit really well. So that is awesome.

Returned home and snacked, then looked up the closest Old Navy. Just going to get work pants from where I know there'll be something in my size. So I headed up north. I walked through the Nordstrom Rack entrance, and then WOW! The bra selection! I have such a hard time finding ones that are 1) in my size 2) not ridiculously expensive 3) not a beige monster. And NR delivered! I actually had choices! I picked up three Betsey Johnson (cute designer) ones that were all half off. And I got some sale makeup. Nordstrom Rack is awesome, how have I not been to one? And if I have, it has been years. Then I went to Old Navy and tried on tons of pants. Some styles fit in one size, others did not, and some fit almost the same between two different sizes. Annoying, but I found some pants that were not tight. Maybe a bit more loose then I am actually sized at, but it is good to my comfy. All in all, a very successful clothing shopping trip! Normally clothing shopping frustrates me. Now I'm psyched for all my new buys.

Oh! And my sunglasses arrived!

A very good day! At home I cleaned my room and put away a bunch of stuff, and organized other things. And did some laundry. 

Now to contemplate tomorrow's crock pot meal. Hmmm.

Sparks Nevada!

I was late to work because I bought doughnuts.

I bought doughnuts to make up for being late.

I believe that is called a self fulfilled tautology! Hahha.

The doughnuts were enjoyed. And I accidentally left them at work so now they'll be a bit stale tomorrow. Oh well, ho hum.

Work was warm. I showed up in shorts. I'm calling Santa Cruz's weather bluff.

Listened to Thrilling Adventure Hour podcasts mostly, and some MaddAddam.

Home I snacked and watched telly. A pretty average Wednesday.

once a scout, always a scout

I've become totally addicted to downloading Podcasts! There are so many awesome ones to listen to, and I can't listen to them all at once. History ones, film ones, funny mock old time radio ones with guest stars. It's all so good and enjoyable!

Work had a stressful moment but it's all good. Caught some shirts, though due to waiting for client approval, there was some delay in printing. Got the bags done. Coated screens. Prepped a bunch of screens for discharge and taped them. A nice full day. Unfortunately it was also a HOT day and I was wearing pants, which sucked.

My Night Vale Community Radio mug arrived! I ordered it a few weeks ago, but it was backordered. Also with it: Eternal Scout buttons AND a big Eternal Scout patch!

It's so cool, and I'm happy it's a really big patch too. Very striking. Hopefully a nerd in the wild will approach me.

Once at home I told Justen and Jeff about Welcome to Night Vale and encouraged both of them to listen to it. So hopefully they do and we can geek out about it.

Worked on art, that was good. All in all, a pretty good day.

I'm going to bring doughnuts to work tomorrow. Because I like doughnuts and I like sharing.

thrilling tales! interviews! so many audio stories!

Boss wasn't in, due to the holiday and spending time with his kid, so it was just a "run this job and then do whatever" day. So we ran the job. Then I burned a ton of screens and reclaimed all that was ready to be reclaimed (19 screens). Listening to MaddAddam, which is pretty funny. Well funny in the scenes where Toby is dealing with the Crakers. Not funny in the overall speculative fiction dystopian setting that permeates the whole story.

Picked up some headphones before work. I like they way they fit in my ears better than the ones I was using, and the cord seems to be of better quality. See, I don't want to go too nice either because of the chances they'll be damaged at work/get ink on them. It's that balance.

Got home and took a nap. Grazed through dinner. Had a big thing of chamomile tea. Now I'm back to being tired.

I downloaded iTunes so now I can readily have access to Podcasts. I think I'll go on a Podcast binge for a while. A little burnt out on narratives.

cheap man pays twice

Saturday:

Slept in well past noon. My body needed it. I was so tired after this week, though it wasn't as strenuous as other weeks. I picked up Justen from the dock, which was only a short drive, and then we walked from the house to Trader Joe's. Housemate hanging out! Then I put stuff in the crock pot: chicken, tomatoes, basil, feta, garbanzo beans. Mmm. Let it cook. Spent a lot of time hanging out. Read a bit. Rested. Had a brewski. The chicken was pretty tasty. Maybe not the most dynamic, but good.

Sunday:

Set my alarm and got up before it was super late. Had leftovers, which were really good cold. Did some tidying. Took a bath and read. Dinner was made by Tara and Justen, as per house meeting rules and stuff. It was kale and chicken, and the squash fry up with rice. Mmmm. Good stuff. The house meeting went long, but there were lots of things to sort out. Chores and cleaning and all sorts of things. It was a good meeting though, I think. It's good to sort out this and that.

My earbuds went bust! Gah! I'm just going to buy the next up in terms of quality, because if I keep buying the cheap ones and they keep breaking, and the better ones don't break, then at a certain point I'd have just saved money by spending $30 instead of $10 over and over and over.

Now it's time for Sunday telly!

taxi driver

Got the backs printed! And oh it was tricky. The back design was about half an inch smaller in length than the surface area we were printing on. It was a squeeze but we did it! And by we I mean Jeff. I just clapped for Jeff.

I like the days where I'm really busy. Do this, then this! I don't like hovering around half way doing tasks, but when I might be needed, I can't go and do a lengthy task. Ended the day with coating screens and then, weekend! Yay!

At home I had some pasta, then I went over to movie night at CTV. We watched Dr. Horrible and Nightmare Before Christmas on the projector, then we watched funny Youtube videos. Some of the people in attendance attended UCSC and made me feel a bit old, but they were cool. They accidentally missed their bus, so I gave them a ride home. Not that much of a biggie, as the campus isn't that far out. And it's the nice thing to do. And heading back I was able to get right on 1, so it probably took the same amount of time to get back as it would have had I just come from downtown.

It's the weekend! Yay! Sleep in? Why yes I shall!

brrr are you serious, santa cruz?

October 10th: the first day I wear pants to work. Because it is cold.

And it stayed cold! I don't like the days where I wear a sweater all day, because the sleeves might get in the way/get messy.

Reclaimed screens at the end. Caught a job. There was a lot of job setting up, but there were tweaks and color changes that needed doing.

We got a goody box from a client because they are so pleased with our work! I snagged the women specific pills. 1 a day kind. For my health!

It's soooo cold!

I worked on freelance stuff at home and watched the last two episodes of The Bridge.

Pacific Northwest has nothing for the heat, and Santa Cruz has nothing for the cold.

middle of the week & road

Tuesday:

What can I say? Work. We had a 500 shirt order and we printed the backs. I caught them. It has gotten suddenly very cold in Santa Cruz. Like it just skipped being mild and went straight to cold. Not fun.

Talked to Carmen about Odd Owl stuff. Talked to Mom about mother/daughter stuff.

Cooked up some more rice to go with the remainder of my curry.

Wednesday:

There is something in the works but I can't talk about it yet!

We did the backs on the big shirt order and the front and backs on another one. I also burned and double coated some screens for tomorrow. Then I spent the last chunk of my shift cleaning screens, but not reclaiming just yet.

I finished Oryx and Crake. I'm halfway through Year of the Flood, and I have the start of MaddAddam on my player. Amazing how fast I can get through audiobooks that are not 42 hours long!

At home I relaxed and watched telly. Talked to Jan. Had some tea.

Tomorrow is Thursday. A designated GET STUFF DONE day.

the chill is coming

I killed that spider that has been lurking! Hurray!

Work was mostly catching. Caught the backs on one job. Fronts and backs on another. Broke the press down. Things were done at 5ish. Not a bad start to the week. It was very warm though, but I suspect it'll get cold soon...so I should get some new work pants. I've gained a biiiiit of weight and last seasons work pants don't fit. For now, I should buy some in the next size up and then think about exercise and that stuff.

At home I threw on some PJ's and initiated relaxation mode. Talked with Tara and Justen for a while about this and that.

I ended things with Steve. The distance was getting to be too much to navigate in the long term and whatnot. As it goes.

curry!

Went to bed with the mind to make some curry in my crock pot.

Had a light breakfast, then I walked to Trader Joe's where they had all the fixings I needed! Hurray! I went home and mixed the spices and chicken and coconut milk and yam and onions and set it on high. Couldn't wait for some tasty tasty. Then I went to Janet's garage sale and picked up some of her neater pieces of clothing. She was technically giving stuff away at that point, but I still gave her some money. Picked up a cool green windbreaker with Massachusetts parks patches on it. It'll be great for my Eternal Scout patch, when that arrives. I spent a good chunk of the day securing one of the patches on the new jacket (it was mostly off) and securing the patches on my patch vest.

I watched the Simon Pegg movie A Fantastic Fear of Everything. It was pretty neat. Very colorful and Pegg is awesome. It sort of turns in the last third, plot wise, but all in all I enjoyed it.

The curry turned out AWESOME! I ate two bowls. I offered it up to the housemates but I don't know if they had any. I should make crock pot cooking a more regular thing.

A pretty good Sunday, all things considered.

futon be gone

Friday:

Whoo! Day off! Slept in to the best of my ability, then had my oatmeal and tea and considered what I had to do for the day. I started by going to the DMV to see about changing my address...but the line was atrocious so I skipped that and went to the Post Office and changed my address there, so at least anything that comes to my old house will come here. I also changed my magazines over, so that is good. Then I went to Super Cuts and got a hair cut! They took off a bit more than I was expecting (though I did ask for several inches and forgot how much shorter my hair goes when it is dry, so that is all my fault). But I like it! It's a lot lighter, which is nice. Then I got a burrito from Chipotle and headed home. I took my laundry out of the dryer (oh, I did my laundry!) and folded it and ate my burrito. Not at the same time.

Then I figured out my evening plans and after a bit of relaxing, I headed up to San Francisco to see Steve. We went to see Gravity. He lives within walking distance of a big theater. I live within walking distance of a small theater. Gravity was super intense! It used all of its 90 minutes to the fullest. So awesome.

It was nice to get out of the city.

Saturday:

Steve and Kyle were going to this music festival, but I wasn't feeling up to it so I headed back to Santa Cruz. I posted the futon on Craigslist for free, and the first guy to arrange a meeting time had trouble with my "second story of Target parking garage" meet up instructions. I ended up waiting for 45 MINUTES! Then another person was all "I can be there in 5 minutes" and since I live 2 minutes from Target...I met her and gave her the futon and all was well! No more futon taking up space!

Took a nap. Ate more chili. Drew a bit.

work hard, rest soft

The futon is the black one, not the denim one. So I should just put it up on Craigslist, yeah?

Work was short, and due to boss camping, a three day weekend was gifted unto me! Yay! Time to rest, how awesome.

Coated the screens. Cleaned all the squeegees and floodbars because it was about time. Caught a bit of a job....oh yes I did bring those screens in. Had to think about it.

Finished Wise Man's Fear. Dang! Such a good book. So long, though some of the arcs were a little...self contained. Not like one big huge thing but more just the main character, Kvothe, going from place to place and little bits piecing together here and there. It's good but wow so long.

I ate more chili at home. Talked to the neighbors. High fived Jeff for doing well at his job. Relaxed and watched telly.

Should swing by the DMV tomorrow and change my address....yay for no job! I changed my magazine subscriptions, so that should be it for the more pressing things. Fun! Sleeping in time!

crockery

A lovely short day at work! Hurray! I cleaned the remaining screens and reclaimed them, so now there is a full racks worth to coat tomorrow! The exposure room will be full again! We are on top of things. WHooo.

And I coated the screens from yesterday. It's nice to have these catch up days. Listened to The Wise Man's Fear. I'm entering the final few chapters of the book. It is so long and yet I don't want it to end! I think I'll relisten to Oryx and Crake, and then Year of the Flood and then MadAddam or whatever the third book is in the Margaret Atwood trilogy thingy. Yeah.

I made a trip to get chili supplies because the cold is coming and chili is needed for the cold! Trader Joe's lacks molasses and Worcestershire sauce, but it had everything else. I made a "sweeter" chili. More brown sugar, less spicy ingredients. I put it in the big pan and let it simmer, but dangit I want a crock pot to make chili in, so I went to Target (which is just, like, 2 minutes drive down the road) and bought a crock pot! A nice 6 quart one, though not uber nice. I'm not MADE of money! But yeah, it's shiny and red and lovely and MINE. I'm super stoked on it. So I went home and put the chili into the crock pot and set it to warm, and it sat and sat and was delicious. I had two bowls. Jeff had a bowl. Tara had a bit over some lettuce. Justen will probably have some heated up tomorrow. Yay for hungry housemates.

Now I need to look up crock pot recipes! PB&J's have gotten well and truly dull to consume day after day.

Still have to figure out what to do with my damned futon! It's so bulky and cumbersome. Ma and Pa, you wanna come get it? Or should I Craigslist it? Hmmrrnn.

punk rock tuesday

We printed posters at work today! Which was awesome! I caught the first layer. Good old acrylic based ink and air drying.

I also weeded more damn hat transfers. So many. Uhg.

And I reclaimed screens! Finally! Reclaiming! And I cleaned some. Cut into the number of stuff to run. Also did squeegees and floodbars. It's been a lot of work. But that is good! Good to work. Good to earn money. All preparation for Hawaaaaaiii! Can't wait for this vacation.

Dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich. Washed my work shirts. Yay, laundry on site!

lets get this week started! lets make it a productive one!

Another full day! So much work to be done and not enough reasonable hours in the day to work it.

Weeded a ton of hat transfers. So many.

Caught a job. Cut some of those window film thingies. Cleaned some screens that we will be rerunning soon.

Need the time to clean screens. Basically someone else needs to catch/print while I just hang out in the back cleaning & reclaiming.

Made myself some noodles for dinner but they were SO BLAND! Uhhhg. Bleh.

Worked on freelance a bit. So behind in obligations. Bad. Bad bad.

hot days and hot tubs

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was tired and then I was busy having fun. So here we go!

Friday:

This busy work week ended on a pretty good note. Jeff ran a couple small jobs and then was done (he got in at 7, so his leaving earlier than I was just a sign of different schedules). Then I broke down the press, cleaned some stuff, boxed the jobs, and pressed hats for several hours. Got a good chunk of The Wise Man's Fear listened to, but even then fiveish hours out of a 42 hour audiobook doesn't do much. There is a whole lotta story in this book. I know that Cryptonomicon is a 42 hour one, and I've seen that book. It's a brick.

Chris is visiting. Chris the former housemate who now lives in Portland, not my boss Chris. It's all sorts of confusing. Anyway. He is visiting so we drank beer and chatted. Justen gave us and Tara and lift to Charlie Hong Kong and we got take out and then returned home and drank more beer with our take away and sat around a little fire outside. That was nice. Then we tried to get the TV working to watch Spice World, but it didn't. Booo! Then it was late and we all went to sleep.

Saturday:

In the reluctant morning, I returned to Bixby Street. Joey was so excited to see me. So happy and loving. It broke my heart.

I removed the shelves off the wall, though they were there when I arrived I felt it probably best to take them down. One less thing for Janet to do. Also took down the mirror from the bathroom and cleaned the bathroom and my room. So much dust and dirt. UHhggg. Something got in my eye too, which made it quite the state for a while. I gave Janet a proper goodbye hug, turned in my key, called the landlord and left a message about getting my deposit back, and that was it. Sad.

Swung by Target and got a new clear shower curtain and raided their dollar candy. I also got some cashback to payback Chris for the takeout.

At home I washed out my eye that was bugging me and finished off my leftovers.

Had a good long conversation with Chris about life, the universe, and everything and then I met Davina the across the street neighbor who Chris knows. And she invited us over for wine and snacks. So I also met Eric her husband. They have a hot tub and a pool! Tara and Justen and Anna (Justen's lady) joined us at the neighbors and by the end of the night we were enjoying the hot tub and pool and everything was awesome! Really great night.

And I had a good solid sleep, which brings us to...

Sunday:

Slept in. Made some oatmeal and tea.... I shall edit this post when I get to the evening.

11:39pm edit:

It was a lovely day. I walked to Trader Joe's and got my food for the week. Made a grilled cheese sandwich. Said hello to Jeff and bye to Chris.

Watched the Breaking Bad finale. It's all done. Such an awesome show and now it is done.

A pretty chill day, all in all.

thursdeeyyy

Wheeewww. Another long day. On my feet. Catching and counting and boxing. Then burning. Then coating. Backs and fronts. It was a lot of stuff and it was warm and my mind was feeling a bit fuzzy and discombobulated from it all. It took a lot out of me and I had to have a nap when I got home. Then I hung out with Justen and Tara and chatted about this and that. Nice to bond with housemates.

So I guess that was it for today? Exhausting work. Nap. Chatting. But there should be some fun tomorrow night and then it is the weekend! Though Saturday I'll work on getting all my everything out of my old house, and cleaning up and giving Janet and Joey a hug.

art! love art.

I bought an etching from Dominic and it arrived! I love my Spaceman print. I had a frame and matting that fit perfectly too, which is awesome. Hung it up next to another print I've bought, which fit nicely into this very suiting frame I got on sale from Target. Yay, art! Working on my collection.

Work was pretty good. Cleaned stuff. I burnts some screens, and managed to reclaim a small stack at the end of the day. Gotta have the time to get screens back in the exposure room! We can't just print and print and print. The design we are running right now is pretty neat.

I came home to another gift exchange box! The last one! It contained Breaking Bad candy and stickers. I love stickers!

I hung up some art and tried to get the TV to work, but the cables were a mess. Couldn't get the audio to come through. Tried lotsa different red and white connections but not a one of them worked.

Oh well.

Mom. I do have a window that looks outside, just outside into the back yard and there is a big tree that sort of blocks the light. In that previous photo, it is reflecting my closet doors.

I should change my address...

Ohhh a long day at work. Counted in sweatshirts and caught them. Then I relocated to chopping vinyl stickers and weeding even more vinyl. So much vinyl. And it had lots of little tricky bastard bits. UHhhhg. The worst lettering. Just lots of little lines and hard to peel properly. Annoying. But it gave me plenty of time to listen to The Wise Man's Fear, so that was great! Yay audiobooks!

Got home tired. 2/3's of my Breaking Bad gift exchange arrived! Did I mention I did the Breaking Bad gift exchange? I now have a mug and a poster. There is a third thing. Three separate package tracking items. Ohhh can't wait.

And my copy of Tobolowsky's The Dangerous Animals Club arrived. So many books....so much time on the Internet. Almost done with Gulp though. Very interesting book about digestion. I'm to the chapters about pooping, and thankfully my coworker is willing to talk about...the book with me. Couldn't deal with working with a normal person.

I moved some empty boxes into my trunk. Now my room seems pretty well set up. I'll work on it some more this weekend.

it's oh so quiet in Live Oak

First day commuting from the new house. It wasn't that bad! It was maybe a couple minutes longer with a few more turns, but less traffic and the roads are in better condition. I take a different route coming back because it is easier to get on the freeway back than it is going. Both ways were good, and it is a different scenery to get used to. But the end is the same. Winding road and work.

I arrived and the job was set up and ready to go so...Jeff and I spent the whole day running the job. 800+ shirts, but due to the flash time it went rather slow. Still. The shirts look great and it was all lovely and at the end the boss was complimentary towards my good work. Yay boss!

Started The Wise Man's Fear, which is 42 hours long! Any given Discworld audiobook is 6-8. It's a good story though, so I'm looking forward to it. Well the first book was very good (The Name of the Wind) so this should be also good. Mmm hmm.

I live within 10 minutes walking distance of Trader Joe's! Driving is a bit longer because walking I can take a shortcut. Yay! I did a TJ's trip. Jeff made some artichokes, which I had some of. I unpacked a bit further. I'm getting close! Some things are just going to end up stored in the trunk of my car. That damn futon.

doughnuts, mattresses, many trips, and a new home

Welp. I am writing to you from my new desk set up in my new room in my new house, which I share with Jeff (a different Jeff from my coworker), Tara, and Justen. Adjust your sets accordingly.

Set my alarm and got up early. Had some toast and Emergen-C and then packed up my car. Took the first load over. Did a Target run and got some cash back to pay Jeff for his impending help (covered gas and a tip). I just brought in the boxes. I didn't bother with unpacking, as I had those shelving units to bring in, and things would unpack into there. I want to get stuff unpacked, and then I can reorganize.

Called Jeff to tell him he could come on over and help me move the mattress. I stopped by Farrel's and bought a dozen doughnuts (only $8!). Odd to see Jeff not wearing work clothes. Granted he had on just slightly nicer short pants and sunglasses. But you get so used to seeing people a certain way. I guess I must have looked odd in my full jeans and not white tee? Anyway. Hauled in the mattress, put down a sheet, put my bike on top of that. The sheet got dirty but only with dirt, not grease. It was a quick trip. Just got the mattress and bike in and that was that. I could handle the rest on my own, so off he went.

It took two more trips after that. One for shelving and misc stuff. Another for my table and chair. It was dark when I got the last haul in. All my stuff has felt under it to protect the hard wood floors. I had a set of "sliders" and opted to put them on the stacked shelves, which was good because those were the heaviest and got scooted around a bit.

Jeff. Housemate Jeff. Made dinner and shared with me and Jan (Jan is Jeff's friend, not short for Janet, who I'll miss). Then I watched Breaking Bad.

I unpacked a bit more, but I don't feel like doing it all tonight. Plus it is Sunday and I don't want to thump too much. Have to get used to the new noise levels of this place. It seems pretty quiet, but I am sharing a wall now so it might also carry.

Here, have some photos:

back and forth & to and fro

Friday:

"Coat or clean?" "Coat." So I did that. And I cleaned. Caught. Did bunches of stuff. Didn't burn any screens, but now we have plenty of screens to burn. Just, like, no 123s. Jeff is going to help me move my mattress on Sunday, so now I have to hit the moving game pretty hard. Well. Hardish.

I took a load over in the evening. My plastic drawers. My grey metal shelf which was a bitch to navigate in and out of my car. All the dust I'm kicking up is really making me sneeze. I should really dust.

Saturday:

Slept in. Slept way way in. It was raining and I didn't want to get out of my warm, warm bed. But I did. Eventually I got around to taking over some more things. Stacking little plastic tubs is really coming in handy. Oh! I also swung by Target and even though I tried my darndest, I could not locate a damn stepping stool! I want one due to how short I am, but I couldn't locate one. I asked but the dude wasn't that helpful.

I saw the movie Prisoners, which was REALLY good. A bit slow to start but the last 45 minutes were just tense and woah.

Back at Bixby, I packed up more stuff. Now it's almost everything. I think I'll try to get my room cleared out, then I'll call Jeff and we'll move my mattress and bike. Then I'll pack up my bathroom stuff and food. It'll be a busy day. Then a new section of my Santa Cruz life starts.

Sigh.

thank Douglas it's Thursday

Whoo! Moved over some more stuff! Just another box of books, some knick knacks, and my drawing table. The table fits under my bed, so that is good. I need to spend some time going through my stuff, because the clutter is mounting.

And a print I ordered had arrived at my new house! Yay! Now I need to frame it (it fits a standard size frame which is efficient for framing).

Work was slightly less hectic. Burning and coating and cleaning and weeding and reclaiming and it was very warm. More Peter Wimsey, who is awesome of course.

At home I stuffed some things into a box and then I went to the new place.

I got my other gift exchange sent off this morning. Whoo that is done!

dry faster ink, come on

Spent the night working on a drawing that is now just about finished, but I need to let it dry over night and see what touch ups it may need. I didn't do any moving today either. Wanted to work on this drawing. It's for a gift exchange and the deadline is the 20th. Also work ran late.

So busy! So many different jobs and things happening. It's really hard to keep it all sorted. Burned a bunch of screens, but improperly burned a few. Ehhhrrm. I reclaimed screens at the end of the day because we always seem in need of screens of all different kinds of meshs. If I don't have a day to just clean stuff, we get behind REALLY fast.

I just couldn't be bothered to finish The Black Company so I started Have His Carcase. Yay Peter Wimsey!

So yeah. Long day at work, got home lateish, started drawing. It's all good.

only Tuesday

Uhg blerug tired.

Reclaimed/coated screens. Caught. Burned. I also ran heat transfers on the new press, so that was fun. I did hats too. Another full day. I'm listened to The Black Company and it isn't really clicking for me. I think I can manage to finish it but I'm not all that enthusiastic about doing so.

At home I worked on my little painting.

Now it's late and I keep going to sleep REALLY late. Stuff to do in the morning.

take it down and put it up

Moved over my red shelf, most of my closet clothes and shirts, and some knick knacks. Could have moved more but ehh...bit by bit. May not do a move tomorrow as I have stuff to do. And I should spend some time organizing the clutter I have right now, because my room is a bit of a torn apart mess and I need to work on sorting what I have and reducing the "laying about" things.

Did some catching, did some cleaning, did some burning, did some taping. Finished Reaper Man. Discworld books are so quick to listen to.

Started sketching something for my other gift exchange. Need to get these sent out by the end of the week!

Got a busy week ahead, but it's all good.

got a lot done and I feel good

Today's move counts: 2.

But first: my car. Got up at a reasonable hour and went to the Toyota place. My helped was named Adam West! Ha! I drank free hot chocolate and read Gulp while waiting for my car to be fixed. Thinking about it, they had to put in the whole shebang. Resecure the seatbelt to the floor. Tons of stuff.

Anyway. After that I went home and loaded up my bed frame, art, assembly supplies, and shirts and shirt bin. Then I headed over to the new house and assembled the bed and put up some new art. The Baticelli now hangs in the entry way. It didn't take long. I returned and loaded up the end table and books and DVDs and returned and deposited them. Now to move in shelving and my closet stuff. Bit by bit. I could probably do it in fewer trips if I really packed it in, but I'm not in a major hurry.

Oh also moved in some mugs.

After the second trip I did my weeks shopping and got myself pizza from Woodstock's because I was feeling lazy.

Breaking Bad broke my heart. What a good, tragic show. Gah.

kickin' up dust

Friday:

It ended up being a solo clean up day. Squeegees and floodbars? Check! Cleaning oodles of screens? Yup! Reclaiming and coating by the end of the day? Did that. Also burned screens. Listened to a good chunk of The Book Thief, which is a great book but also very depressing.

At home I itemized all that I had to do this weekend. I also arranged my car repair for Sunday. Hurray!

The way I planned what I had to do left Friday wide open, so I let myself relax for one more day.

Saturday:

Actually got up right between a reasonable hour and way too late. Had my oatmeal and tea. Then I ran my errands. Santa Cruz is so easy to drive around it. I'm in another gift exchange, but this one is one sided and for teachers. Specifically classroom supplies. So I swung by Staples. Then I returned home by car, and set out once again by foot for an art supply errand. It was a great day to walk along the river a little bit. I finished The Book Thief and started Reaper Man...which is an odd pair of books. I got some frames and a notebook from the art supply store, then a sandwich from Zoccoli's. I tried to sit in the park and watch the ducks while I ate it, but this wasp just HAD to get all up in my business, so eventually I was made to move and get walking again.

Back at home I took my art off my walls and took apart my bedframe. Tomorrow I want to reset up my bedframe in the new room, and move in a few shelves. Then I can start the slow process of getting my stuff over trip by trip. It shouldn't take that long. Then next weekend: my bed goes over and then I am out of this house. Though I'll probably make a trip for little things here and there. And help Janet clean.

Now my point of view is all weird because I don't have my bed and side table and art to look at.

We've been setting out things on the curb for free, and now this kid shows up at our door at weird hours and asks if we have any free stuff for him. We say we may put stuff out later on. It's odd to see what is a stereotypical "weird neighborhood kid".

Have a 10am appointment to get my car fixed tomorrow! And it's only about a 15 minute drive away, which is easy. No having to go up to some San Jose dealer or whatever.

NEWT!

NEW HARRY POTTER MOVIE! AHHH! Exciting. Well Harry Potter universe. Creatures! Waah! So exciting.

I ordered the car part. Hopefully it'll arrive by tomorrow morning and I can take my car in soon (Saturday) to get it fixed.

Work was another full day! Yay for full days of work! Money money money! And I like my job. Did a big banner, but since it was thicker it was easier to roll and move about. Caught a job. Weeded vinyl. Weeded more vinyl. Generally was helpful. Taped screens. Time can pass really fast.

At home I did a quick bike ride to the library and returned my library books, though I quickly finished one of the comics I checked out. The art was nice but the story wasn't all that captivating.

Working 10:30-6:30 really does cut into the evening time.

Whooo weekend! I have a list so I shall work on that list.

this weekend I'll revitalize and get stuff DONE!

Called the Toyota parts people. Think I'll just have to suck it up and get it fixed by the pros. Though it sounds like they can order the part and then when I bring in my car (and they are open on Saturday and Sunday) I could get it fixed same day, which is convenient. What is that idiom, a cheap man pays twice? Fixing it myself could result in breaking the newly bought part...

I did vinyl signs today at work and they turned out pretty damn awesome! Very proud of myself. Also weeded some pain in the ass vinyl. Caught stuff for a bit. But I was mostly on vinyl duty, and then at the end cleaning squeegee duty.

Had a salad for dinner. Like a responsible healthy eating person. Took out the trash.

Awesome Wednesday whooo!

I need to return my library books. Probably running low on renews.

slack

It rained today! I really want to wash my car but there is a water shortage right now so I probably shouldn't use the hose. Stupid California. But yeah, it was damp and cold which made for a really nice change of pace. I did banners for most of the day, as well as some burned screens and vinyl weeding.

Almost done with Ruby in the Smoke. Young Adult books go so fast!

My legs have been really sore these past few days.

Washed my work shirts. Actually they should be ready to take out of the dryer now.

I'm in another inactivity phase. Need to snap outta it.

a man, a plan, and no coyote corpses to show for his effort

WHooo!! What a day! Energy was high and lots of changes were made. Good changes! And the print came out pretty good. Finally done with that job! Lots of exclamation marks in this post!!

It ended up being a shorter day, though Jeff had arrived early so it was a full day for him.

I started Ruby in the Smoke, but as it is a shorter audiobook I'll probably be onto another one in no time at all. Yay audiobooks!

I called Toyota about my seat belt. Now I have to find a Toyota dealer and get an estimate about parts/repairs and compare that to DIY.

Zappos had Roos on sale, so I bought another pair but this time in purple! Now I'll have three good pairs of work shoes!

food, nap, shopping, shopping, sleep

Happy birthday Dad! Glad you liked the shirt.

Didn't feel like making breakfast, so I went to Zachary's and had their "big miss" scramble of sorts. It was too big so I had to take left overs home with me. Then I took a nap to allow that to digest. The day started mild and gray and then it escalated into warmth.

Made a Target trip for furniture felt, a bucket, some little bags for packing knick knacks safely, and some other miscellaneous stuff because Target has too much selection. I packed up a few more things, but I feel that it won't really take off, in terms of packing, till I start actually moving things out. Still, gotta get a start and then I can work from there.

Also made a Trader Joe's run. So much shopping!

Also finished A Cuckoo's Calling. It was okay.

pear people

Sketch from Saturday's pear pie making.

pears and pies

Oh joy to have a Saturday where the alarm goes off at 8am. But I had some quality time planned with the new housemates, so that is swell. So I arrived at the new house at 9:20ish ready to pick pears from the backyard pear tree. Hurray! Chris is still in the house, but is moving soon. He is a pretty cool dude, I hope he enjoys Portland. So it was Jeff, Justen, Tara, Chris, Jan (Jeff's friend), and I! Whooo! And we came up with an order for operations. Justen, Tara, and I went about picking pears. We went up on this orchard ladder with a long picker. It took a lot of careful maneuvering, but we got so many pears! Some were really high up. Using a picker is hard work. It's a lot of weight to navigate. It was a brilliant sunny day, but not a scorcher.

Once the pears were picked, they were washed. Justen had an engagement so he left, but not before cooking us eggs and bacon! What a guy!

Then we started cutting and cutting and cutting. So much filling to be made. Chris and Jan worked on the crust. Tara also cut up some strawberries. The table was set up outside, so that it was a conveyor belt of pie making. Five pies were filled! Of various sizes. A couple had lattice crusts, because we are fancy. Conversation was good, everyone was polite and on the same level. It was a good group and I feel good about it.

Then pies went into the oven and we started cleaning and tidying and relaxing and chatting. I sketched a bit. Then a pie was out of the oven and we consumed a good portion of it. Mmm. Pear and strawberry. Very good.

After helping with the dishes I bid adieu and went to Atilla's Antiques because I am on a quest to find a badass seal/signet type ring. The big kind that you can use to punch an emblem into wax. So far I'm not coming up with anything badass enough that is also reasonably priced. I should also find out my ring finger sizes.

But I did get a few neat can labels featuring squid, a framed print of some sea shells that I really liked and wasn't badly priced, and some old drawing guide books that I liked the images in. Hurray!

And all that before 4pm! What a Saturday.

I hung out at home for a bit. I walked to Betty's Noodles for some noodles for dinner because my laziness to cook was more than my laziness to walk to a place to make me food. I ended up getting a beef rice bowl thing. It was all right. The rice was a bit dry in a few parts. Like it came from the side of the cooker. It's fun to read Mary Roach's Gulp while eating dinner. Hhehe.

Anyoo. Night came. I packed my books into boxes. I think I'll make a Target run and get some tubs, though I think a lot of my things can be moved without actually unpacking. Just put the shelving thingies in my car and tape the drawers shut. The plan will be to make a trip every night from the 15th to the 22nd, and then on that weekend, move my bed and desk and actual thing things. But get everything but clothes out. It may not take THAT many trips, considering what I have on hand.

Not fun to think about, but some things are inevitable I suppose.

I can't deal with three figure heat

Uhg. What a day. It was 92 degrees in Scott's Valley, according to the internet, but in the studio it was probably more. I kept hydrated but still that heat is a killer. I burned screens, the job got set up and...well it took some tweaking and....it took some color changes AND... we still are not quite there and stress was running high. But we are a well oiled team! And my suggestion to put stars on the seps to separate them was well received and ended up being a very approved idea by the end of the day.

And at home I took a nap and Joey came to join me. That was nice. Nice to nap the hot part of the day away. I've got an early morning tomorrow so nighty night!

eye of the beholder

My eye is almost all better! Just a tinge left. Such a weird thing.

As for the car, well...err things haven't moved forward. I keep sleeping in and not taking the time to call Toyota about the part.

We didn't print much at work because the film needs some tweaking....so I went ballistic on reclaiming screens. 44 in total! We have a full rack and 20 to coat tomorrow. Booyah. We'll have so many screens to burn stuff onto!

I also cleaned stuff. Knocked out a good chunk of audiobook listening.

Then I wasted yet another night at home. Just not feelin' it these days.

Janet is the best, no lie

My eye is looking lots better. Still a bit of redness but generally it seems to be healing.

Work was fun. Brought in cheese puffs and got Kara addicted to them. Trader Joe's white cheddar puffs are sooooo good. Mmm. Jeff warned her, but did she listen?

I burned a bunch of screens all through the day. Caught a couple jobs. Broke down the press. Generally I was awesome. Boss said we are going to be printing some really awesome posters coming up soon. Won't go into detail due to probable disclosure contracts. But it's neat!

I really like my job. I can be goofy yet respected for my drive. I can listen to audiobooks. I can give input into matters. It's awesome.

Once home, I got a text from Janet informing me that I can have the rest of the ice cream pie she made. I thump thump thump thump thumped down the stairs SO FAST! So tasty. Just like chocolate and ice cream in a graham cracker pie tin. I'll have to get her recipe.

eye see yoooou

Woke up to this red spot in my eye. I don't know how it got there, but it seems like the type of injury that would result from carelessly rubbing your eye in the middle of the night. It doesn't hurt and it wasn't oozing, so I just left it alone and it is looking a bit better. I'll see how it is in the morning. Hopefully it will be minimized and not like, HUGE RED EYE AHHHH.

Swung by the post office and put a package in the mail. Hopefully it'll arrive by September 8th.

Work? What can I say about work that I haven't said bunches of times before. I did stuff. Oh. We mixed natural discharge and white discharge to make a custom slightly off white color for the client. That was new. Jeff and I were super efficient at printing this one job. Boss bought a wheely shop stool. That is fun. I started Cuckoo's Calling, which I've been excited for.

Home meant laundry, and my sheets got tangled up in themselves, so those have to try more before I can put the other laundry in.

Had Trader Joe's potstickers for dinner. They were okay, but I know I can make my own potstickers that are just as good, I just need to take the initiative and make the filling.

car parts

Boss and I managed to get the seat belt retractor out of the side of the car. I was mighty in strength as I pulled off the side panel to expose it. Haha. But there were a buncha warning signs about contents being under pressure and stuff, so neither of us wanted to undo the thing further....so it was agreed that the best course of action would be to order the part and replace it. The adventure continues!

Today was a clean up day. I listened Locke Lamora, a book I'm becoming less interested in as it goes on (just isn't as dynamic as I would have hoped). I cleaned allll the used squeegees and floodbars. I cleaned alllll the screens. I reclaimed 9 screens and coated them at the end of the day. It's good to get on top of things like that, because they can pile up. Oh! I also used a staple gun to put up some banner scraps to block off the cleaning tank from splashing on the clean stuff to the left of the tank. Yay staple guns!

Was an early day. Spent some time cuddling with Joey on my bed. Talked to Ma and Pa.

We've got some big printing to do in the next couple days. Let's do this!

too hot to enjoy the heat

Saturday:

Woke up to an oppressive heat. Just that warmth that is all "yeah, I'm going to be really hot today". So I bought some ice cream and sat on the porch and read. Didn't get up to much. Janet is slowly packing up the house. Glasses. The couch was put on the curb and some people grabbed it an hour and a half later (it's always smart to put a "free couch" posting on Craigslist to get rid of things quickly like that).

My seat belt retractor broke, so I spent time Googling and talking to Dad and trying to figure out how to fix it. But I lack the tools to remove the bolts. But I'm sure we'll have the tools at work, so hopefully I can get it sorted soon. Stupid thing. Don't want to take out the whole side panel, but I might have to. Don't want to take it to a repair shop either but hey, might have to. Bleh.

Been watching Stephen Fry in America on Netflix. It's pretty good. He drives around to all the states and interviews people.

Sunday:

Another warm wakeup with some more porch reading. Got groceries later on. Don't want to drive more than necessary. Certainly don't want to go on a road that goes more than 35mph. How do people just drive without their seat belts?

Working on my continent drawing. So easy to do digitally! Lotsa fun.

Right now I'm working on my Goodreads profile, hopefully as a way to get suggestions for new books! Not that I don't already have enough on my shelf AND in my audiobook queue.

part of the record

You know that you know it is going to be hot when you just leave your sweater at home. Normally I bring one for the start of the day but nooooope. It was hot and it stayed hot. Mixed ink. Taped stuff. Counted things in. The job had several color changes, and the front and back had to be hand pulled because they were large images, and it was discharge ink which is a fuss! Poor Jeff looked so beat. I cleaned up the ink and broke down the press and call it one warm warm day. Gaah. I drank plenty of water but still. So much sweat. Rarely do I shower right after work but oh that shower felt great.

So yeah. Weekend!

I went to Bookshop Santa Cruz to look at their birthday cards because I need to get a card for.....someone... uhm. Ahem.

And snagged a great deal on hardback copy of Reamde. I saw the pile and then had the devil of a time trying to find the pile again. So many books!

Ryan and I met up and we went to 99 Bottles and met his friends Hillary and Dean for dinner and brews. I knocked #41 off my card and had some fish and chips. Hillary and Dean are super into comics so we chatted a whole bunch and got along great! We cruised by their house to drop some stuff off. Hillary lent me a few issues of Finder! YAY COMICS! Yay new friends. Hahah.

Then back we went downtown to see The World's End. Yes I saw it last week. It was worth seeing again. Very funny and fantastic. Lots of great physical comedy bits and little touches. The people really know what they are doing when it comes to making these movies. Hope they make another one soon!

Lotsa people out tonight, and some were rowdy. Be interesting to move and see a new part of this city, though not being so bikeable to the theaters is a bummer.

Also! One of those gift exchanges I did set the world record for the largest online secret Santa at 44,805 participants! So cool!

beginnings and endings and beginnings

After work, I went to the new house to assist Jeff and Tara in interviewing potential candidates for the 4th bedroom in the house. There was Justen and Blake. Justen was quieter, Blake was more energetic. Both were younger, one had lived with many different people (even in Denmark) and one had not. We talked about it and we all agreed on our choice, so if the references clear....he shall be in! I got a better look at the house and it seems pretty good. Plenty of pantry space.

Being on the other end of the interview process is interesting. Figuring out all the different questions, and what matters in a candidate. It's a pretty big thing, figuring out who you are going to live with. After many years of experience though, you should figure it out. What you are looking for in a home and people to home with. Anyhoo. That was cool. Then Jeff, Tara, Chris (the guy who is moving out) and I went to Discretion Brewing for a quick brewksi. Chris is moving to Portland. It was a really awesome time! I'm a bit sad that Chris is leaving, because I think I would have liked living with him. Really nice dude. Hope he likes Portland. Found out that probably the lady who wrote the Feministory piece I illustrated for Bitch Magazine is a friend of Jeff's. Small world! Anyway. The conversation was fun and Tara and I bonded over mutual love for Spice World. Things should be good.

What can I say about work? I caught some sweatpants, I prepped some screens for discharge ink, I cut out and smoothed down some big magnets that are going on the side of a car that is going to be in a demolition derby, I cleaned squeegees and floodbars. It's always different and changing. I think I've mentioned that that is what I like about my job, but it bears repeating.

All in all, a very good active day. And whee, it is Friday! Fun!

whoooo wednesday

Another full day at work! Love full days, so nice to have.

We ran the fronts on one job, and the fronts and back on another. There was a spider in my respirator, but thankfully I noticed that before I put it on. No inhaled spiders for me!

Listened to the Lies of Locke Lamora, which is really enjoyable.

After all the printing, I burned a bunch of screens and weeded a bunch of vinyl and that was that.

Home found me relaxing and watching Archer. Worked a bit on my current pet project and set out the recycling and that was that.

cricket and the Perg

Coyotes got the goats at work. Awful. Just awful. And they had just gotten named! And it was during the day! So awful.

Anyhoo. I touched up the gilding on the sign and it is done and it looks awesome. I caught a job too, and broke down the press. I counted in some shirts. A nice full day, as doing the gilding takes time and patience.

After work, I met up with Benjamin. I met Benjamin and Jenn and Steve's wedding. He is from Santa Cruz but is going off to study abroad and what not. He was in town and we hung out, which was awesome because I got a Santa Cruzian's description of downtown. We had a pint at the Poet and I learned to play darts (I won by a slim margin). We had dinner at India Joze and it was VERY good. Indian fusion? I don't know what to describe it as, but it was flavorful and awesome. It was a nice clear night. Perfect to wander around and get what this and that building is pointed out to me. We finished at Cafe Pergolesi and called it a night at around 9ish. A nice little weekday evening. Fun to have visitors, even if we've only actually met once before. Yay for Facebook for making various kinds of contact easier!

And yay for getting out of the house, haha.

dress weather

Sunday:

Slept in, because duh. Did my grocery shopping and once home I made an enchilada casserole. Now I have a weeks worth of not PB&J! Hurray! Really gotta branch out in my cooking. Relaxed. Drew a drawing for Nate. Watched Breaking Bad.

Monday:

Also slept it. Finally feel all rested after the previous week of sucky sleep.

I've been blogging for over six years now. Some of my older posts used to go into so much detail, but I guess I was doing more. Going to different things in a day, doing different this and that.

I cleaned dishes. My new house will have a dishwasher, so that is exciting. Though I still like handwashing. It's just easier.

It was so warm and nice all day. I was able to wear just a dress and be comfy.

Welp! Back to work tomorrow.

Eman Draziw

Eman Draziw

Nate wanted me to draw his D&D character, so here it is.

in the woods

Friday:

Another relaxed day at work. And I have a three day weekend! Which is very much needed as I haven't been sleeping well. My nights have just been very restless. Anyhoo. I touched up the gilding, I cut some stuff, I cleaned screens, I put away stuff. I finished The Amber Spyglass and oh what a heart punch of an ending! I tidied up the studio a bit too. Oh! And taped screens for a job. But all in all, it was a short day. Sometimes there are lulls in the printing, and that is not so bad. Well. Not so bad now that I'm making more money!

I planned to see The World's End with Steve in the evening, but he had a ways to come down (from San Francisco) so I had time to clean house, and vacuum, and relax. I will have hard wood floors at my new place, so now I'll have to get felt for my furniture. I've picked up some sliders, which I'll put under the bed, as that will probably have to be moved a bit as I settle my room.

So The World's End was pretty funny! I want to watch it again. Spaced, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead. All the same cast members reoccurring. That humor. The friendship. Very much its particular thing. I'm sure it'll do well on a repeated viewing.

Saturday:

Steve and I drove to Jeffrey's for brunch to try them out. It was standard diner fair, nothing really to write home about. Though I am writing right now and people at home will read about it. From there we got on Highway 1 and then went to the Nisene Marks State Park to do a little loop hike. The road was annoying to drive on. Narrow. Tons of cyclists and pot holes. But the park was very nice. Redwoods and small loops and not a lot of people. The weather was perfect for it too. Hot, but not sweltering. And we had the forethought to bring a water bottle. Always a bonus. The trails were very up and down though. Not a lot of flat paths. Though that was only in the section we were in.

Due to having a man date with Adam and Kyle, Steve departed after that. I forgot to call you back Mom! I'll call you tomorrow! Anyway. I ran an errand. Washed the dishes. Worked on my map. Watched The Bridge, which is an American adaptation of a Danish/Swedish show Bron/Broen, which is a border crossing crime drama. The adaptation is very good.

I'm very happy to have this three day weekend. Just knowing that Monday is open as well. Ah. It's good.

I also spent some time thinking about how I'm going to layout my new room. It'll be tricky, but I'll make it work somehow.

gold!!

Today at work, after I broke down the press and cleaned squeegees and floodbars, I was assigned the task of gold leafing these two signs! Waah! How fun! First I had to paint on the gilding size stuff. Basically a specific glue for the task. So I put that on it. Then once it had sat for 45 minutes to an hour I delicately placed gold leaf from sheets onto it using a brush and my finger to press it down and on. Damn it looked good. Slow and steady! So good. And Boss was very pleased with my work. Positive reinforcement is awesome. And playing with gold is just so cool. One sign was gold gold, the other was white gold. I think there will be more leafing tomorrow as well. So fun.

I took a nap when I got home. Feeling so tired lately.

Then I crossed another thing off my "to do" list. And added another thing to it as well...so it still stands as three things to do. But I should get another thing done tomorrow. It's all good.

naps are nice

Felt funky all day. Like there was a sort of pressure behind my eyeballs. Not enough sleep? Too much vinyl weeding? Not enough veggies? Probably the last thing. I should get some salad.

Work? Well work was catching a couple small jobs. Whipped up some discharge ink. Burned some stuff. It's all come into a nice rhythm. Oh and weeded a bunch of vinyl and cut some large laminated images.

At home I took a nap. Then grilled my left over lunch PB & J for dinner.

Started Amber Spyglass! Whoo!

fantasy map

pencil and watercolor

9" x 12"

now to start naming places!

awwwWOOOOOOOO at the moon

Whooo! I bought this cool wolf shirt that my pals Dom and Morgaine made! And Morgaine included a little hand charm in the package too. They are just too awesome by half! I've been cutting the sleeves and collars out of my shirts. Makes them sooo much more comfy to wear. Not ALL my shirts, but some of them.

I spent my night refining this imaginary planet with its continents and islands and stuff. Fun fun!

Work. Counted in some odd shirts and caught them. Weeded vinyl. Burned some screens. Weeded more vinyl.

I think I'll be learning how to work the embroidery soon. Hopefully it is easier than it looks.

Etsy makes it so easy to support my pals. Etsy and Kickstarter.

measure twice, protect against scuffs once

It ended up being a short day at work. A job was ran. I coated screens. I activated a new thing of emulsion. Tomorrow there shall be more shirts, so that should be cool.

Nice to have a shorter day though. Had a weird restless night sleep.

I met Jeff (housemate Jeff) to go through a housing agreement contract. I met Chris, who is moving out, which sucks because he was really easy to talk to and was really nice and seemed like he would be a good roomie, but alas he is moving out. So the house will be Jeff, Tara, a forth person yet unknown, and myself. The contract is pretty straightforward "no candles, this is how it goes" type stuff. After I signed it (I start moving in on the 15th, which is awesome because I only pay half a months rent instead of the full kebab) I went to my room and took measurements so that I can measure my existing stuff and figure out how it'll all fit.

I'll need to but some felt for under my bed, and maybe a little rug thing for under my desk/chair as I have wood floors and I don't want to scratch/gouge them (as that will cost me if/when I move out).

So that was thing 1 crossed off my 4 thing to do soon list.

so hot during the week but pretty mild this weekend

Saturday:

Ran my work clothes through the wash. Cleaned some stuff using cleaning advice I googled and it worked! Yay! Later in the day I drove up to Mountain View for a board game night with Nate, Helen, Carmen, and Josh! I was the first to arrive (N and H were already there). We had some tea and we chatted and caught up. J and C arrived with soup and Helen made gluten free bread and we all ate food and then set about figuring out how to play Small World, a table top game. It was pretty fun once we figured out what was going on. There are a lot of options for different types of scenarios, so game play doesn't get repetitive. Like Risk except more fair. I came in squarely in the middle, with Nate total winner and Helen a close second. Nate is good at these sort of strategy type games. I'm better at Khet.

I got a bit turned around (took an exit too early) on the way back but didn't get too detoured.

Sunday:

Another wonderful sleeping in day. I like not having to worry about finding a place to live. I was expecting that process to be really prolonged.

I did my groceries and did a CVS run for soap and stuff. I sat on the porch and worked on this story I've been working on and did some drawings to accompany my notes. It's a color coded notecard system right now. It's fun to get back into world building.

A nice relaxing weekend. Not too much hub-bub.

pow! take that stickers!

Work was very long. Punching stickers out and waiting for stickers to be cut so that you can punch them...takes a while. But it isn't terribly strenuous. I also reclaimed 24 screens in total, but because on how I staggered when I reclaimed them, 10 were able to be coated today! And I caught and boxed a job.

And I melted from the heat.

Don't worry! I kept hydrated!

Still. Whew!

And when I got home it's like all the energy has gone from my body. So tired. I guess I'll climb into bed soon. Unless I get a "up till 2am" second wind. Haha.

Don't know what I'm doing this weekend. I THINK I had an obligation but I just don't know...

Errr. Yeah.

Oh! Finished Golden Compass and now I'm onto Subtle Knife.

bleeting good time

Got another round of art process done and sent off. Yay!

Work was horribly hot. So...very hot. Just sweat everywhere and uhg. Lots of water was consumed. I got all the screens cleaned, so I should, if the timing is good, be able to reclaim some tomorrow (don't want them to sit and collect dust while waiting to be coated).

Oh and we ran sweatpants and shirts and patches.

It was nice to return home and change into not horrible sweaty clothes.

Boss got two goats. Yay more animal noises!

mostly lazy

Got cramps something fierce at work, but making a heat pad out of shirts sent down the dryer helped. Ended up leaving early because I was not feeling up to snuff. Now I'm going to bed at...what is technically a reasonable hour.

Ran shirts. Ran more shirts. Cleaned things. Found no dead half rats. Stopped by Chase Bank and deposited my deposit for the new place. Next up: first months rent.

Did my laundry. Watched Archer.

Damn. Neglected to do thing I needed to do. I've gotten lazy.

still posting even though my days are in a pattern

Whoo! Another day! Ran some sweaters. Burned some stuff. My Golden Compass files were ordered weird so I couldn't listen to it today, so that was a bummer. I felt really out of it. Probably due to staying up so late.

At home I doodled and watched stuff. I have some Odd Owl stuff to attend to, so that is something productive to do...tomorrow.

I dunno. It's nice having a mental holiday. July was a heckuva month.

I'll miss Janet

Week started on a pretty good note. Burned screens. Caught a quick two color job and a single color job. Taped screens. Then we ran a slightly more complicated piece but that looked good. Almost done with The Name of the Wind! Fellowship of the Ring has such a DAMN LONG START! I've forgotten. Kinda slow going when we only listen to it for bits at a time. Harry Potter is MUCH faster paced.

After work I got the 100% thumbs up from Jeff, so now I just have to put in my deposit and first months rent and I'm good to go.And he is only asking for deposit right now, which is nice. Both together won't tap me out. Actually this whole move isn't leaving me as broke as I expected, and rent will be cheaper so I should get back on my feet pretty quick again.

At home I watched telly and read a bit.

Janet left some comics on my bed for me to have. She is so kind and wonderful!

well, that went fast

So on Saturday I slept in, and woke up to find an email... or did I return that email in the evening? Anyway, there was an email from someone who saw my post- no it was in the morning- there was an email from someone, Jeff (a different Jeff), saying they had a room and they linked me to their post. And it sounded really neat and up my alley, so I responded, and after my shower and stuff I got a call and we talked about housing basics and stuff and then we set up a time for me to see the place and that was that! So the rest of the day I relaxed and tidied. Then I went to the Live Oak area to see the house. It is in the middle of a neighborhood with lots of other houses and streets upon streets of houses. Very residential. Jeff works with schools and biking things. Tara works as a nurse in Monterey. Wasabi is an oldish cat who lives in the house. The other roommate is moving to Portland as it turns out, so I didn't meet them. The house has a nice back yard, not lawn back yard. More trees and some sculptures and a big bottlebrush tree. And a pear tree. It's nice. The room is smaller than my current room, but the closet is nice. I could make it work. I plan to make it work as Jeff called me today (Sunday) telling me that they talked about it and would like me to live with them! Yay! Anyway to go back to the meeting. We talked and there are house meetings, so that is neat. And it seems close to a different sort of stuff. Not downtown stuff but stuff...stuff. Maybe I'll be biking more! I'll have to do a "Trillian has moved!" card to send to all my correspondents. So the meeting was good (obviously) and I returned home feeling good. Didn't get up to much for the rest of the day. Just took some much needed head space relaxing time. Then I went to bed and stayed in it for a good long while. Sunday came around and I needed food, so I bought food. And bought some naan. Ate an early dinner and got a call from Jeff! Hurray! I have the room! I threw on some fun makeup and drove up to Felton for the Odd Owl show! They were playing at a newish open air venue that is an outdoor stage in someones sorta backyard. Anyway, it was nice. And even though I was running late, I got there with plenty of time. I had a beer at the start and that was that. Had some pizza and sausage later on. Dina was there, and I met a buncha people. I keep forgetting business cards! But they were awesome and played the old hits and some new stuff and they just jammed for a while, which was great to hear. Just a lot of fun and mingling. Dina lent me her jacket. I went around collecting tips. Chatted for a bit but didn't stay too late as I have work in the morning and BREAKING BAD TO WATCH! Wow, what a start to the season! So good.

I've almost got three weeks left in this month, and I aim to relax. I'll start sorting eventually, but I don't even move in till September. It's nice to have that out of the way. And the rent & utilities are almost a full Benjamin cheaper all together. Sweeet.