cute animal wine is what I prefer

We finished this job that wasn't actually fully due for another week! Ah! But great to get it done. Took some work, but we were done for the day with daylight to spare!

When I woke up, some of the power outlets/lights were not working. I figured I would take care of it when I got home. So I got home, the problem hadn't magically fixed itself. Called Jeff, who left me a message about what to do...but then I accidentally deleted the message and lost track of what to do, so I called Dad and said "help me Dad-wan Kenobi!". But I couldn't find the other button... but Jeff came home soon and showed me the thingy I had to press, and boom lights were on!

I went to Trader Joe's and bought some wine for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I went with a "cute illustrated animals on the label" theme with Babble and Tribunal. Both reds. Had some TJ's sushi for dinner. Watched stuff. Took it easy. Nice to have a good amount of time in the evening to relax. Now to sleep in! Wheee!

I wonder how I'll do my makeup for Thanksgiving? Hmmmm.

day before day before

Ryan invited me to his Thanksgiving! With his sister. And other people. And all I have to bring is some red wine. Booyah! I was going to make this two day chicken tikka masala recipe, but I'll save that for the weekend. You marinate it over night, then slow cook it all day. I still need to find some garam masala to fill out the recipe. That and some peppers.

Anyhoo. It was a late night trip to Trader Joe's, after a late day at work. We've got a couple big deadlines, so it was a lot of stuff that needed doing immediately. Jobs to get set up, plenty of screens to burn, screens to coat, stuff to tape up. And so many squeegees cleaned and recleaned. Got some good listening done on Thrilling Adventure Hour.

Long day at work. Got home lateish. But I just gotta work tomorrow, go buy some wine, and then it is four day weekend time! WHeeeeeEE!

super stoked on santa cruz nerds

Just got back from seeing the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. In 3D! At the theater! It was awesome. There was a line around the block and they were so palpably nerds. There were fezzes and bowties and long scars and sonic screwdrivers and Tardis this and that. Oh it was great. Ryan met me in line (friend Ryan, not coworker Ryan). Got pretty good seats. The audience whooed and cheered and it was a great experience.

Work was full, but not totally strenuous. Burned some screens. Counted out several nightmarish jobs (lots of specific pieces that were in separate boxes that had to be susses out). I trained Ryan in cleaning screens and reclaiming. I like reclaiming. That is solid audio listening time. And I get to use the pressure washer. Oh well. I must train. A good studio can swap everyone around seamlessly. I think new guy Ryan is getting the hang of it.

Mellowed at home a bit. The dishwasher does NOT get all the dishes clean as it ought.

But seriously, where are all these Santa Cruz nerds hiding? There were so many of them!

selfie was word of the year

Uhhggg. I'm so congested! I don't know why! I don't feel otherwise sick and I've done a pretty good job of staying warm. The space heater had my room all kinds of cozy last night.

There was today's makeup look. Fun to run errands while all done up.

I made my pulled pork, though I think I bought the wrong cut of meat or something. Either way, it turned out okay. Edible, sure, but nothing too phenomenal. I was hoping for a little more fancy but ehhh. Oh well. It'll be good for sandwiches in the next few days. Only working three days this week, then it is four day Thanksgiving weekend! Hopefully at the end of it, I'll have all my film drawn up and ready to expose and print in the following week. Have to go to Ikea and buy frames. Thankfully I don't really have to do Christmas shopping. Just Christmas making. I'll probably just have stuff ship to Washington instead of hauling it on the plane.

While the sun was out, I walked to Staples instead of driving. It was warm and I was just in my Hawaiian shirt. Twas nice. I picked up some envelopes, and film to draw on to turn into separations for screen printing. So once I get it drawn, I can buy some paper! And ink. Hmmm. Yay screen printing!

Ohh that Benadryl seems to be kicking in and my face is no longer leaking.

Took a nice bath today as well. Very relaxing.

chocolate oranges are at Trader Joe's. Yaaay!

Today I:

• Trimmed my bangs. They are nice and blunt now! I like my bangs straight across.
• Bought a space heater. My room doesn't stay warm, all the heat just goes right out of it. And when I turn the heat in the house on, the upstairs goes to an uncomfortable 70 and I'm like...not even really cozy. So I bought a space heater to use to heat my little room. At least the space isn't big.
• Bought pulled pork ingredients. I think I bought the right cut of pork for the recipe. So that'll be what I try to achieve tomorrow.
• Did my makeup all pretty like again.
• 
• Watched the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode, which was awesome! Tennant is so good! I wished the other Doctors had cameos (well the surviving ones). But overall it was super fun to behold. Such great actors!
• Walked around a bit. Well mostly just to Target and back. And then Trader Joe's and back. But still, nice to get out of the house.
• Discovered that the Trader Joe's spring rolls are pretty ... meh. Edible, but nothing special.
• Slept in. It was nice. And my knee isn't hurting. I'm tempted to buy a brace though. Those make it better on those days when it is bad, right?
• Watched some other telly.
• A pretty good Saturday.

trying to learn how to do my eyebrows

Woke up so sore. I slept on half my body wrong and my knee was awful.

I weeded 50 feet worth of vinyl, and a different 25ish feet bit of vinyl too. So much vinyl. I burned and taped screens. Helped catch and box. Cleaned squeegees and floodbars, broke down the press. Having Ryan catch really opened me up to do all this other stuff. If I had to catch, I wouldn't have had the time to do all that other stuff. We need a third in the studio.

At home, I relaxed. Had some pasta. I put makeup on just for funsies. Then Tara was all "you're so pretty!" and I was all "awwww". Totally easily won over by compliments. Anyhoo, Tara, Michael, and I went downtown and had drinks and dessert at Hula's. Hula Hula's? I had soda and a "pot" brownie, which was just a brownie cooked in a flower pot. They had tasty pie and booze. I was designated driving. We chatted, I sketched, we ate tasty treats. Mmmm. It was pretty cold. Very cold by Santa Cruzian standards. Regular November cold by Pacific Northwest standards.

cool people of history

My room is generally cold, but when it is cold in Santa Cruz, woah is it cold in my room! Hard wood floors are a scam.

Worked a long shift at work. I drank some coffee with a cataclysmic amount of non-dairy creamer in it, and it sent me up the hyper wall. WHOAOAAAHHH. At least my coworkers and boss found it funny. I did some heat transfers. I cleared the back table of stuff. I showed Ryan how to count stuff in. Caught a bit. Cleaned a bit. Weeded 42 feet worth of vinyl. So much vinyl.

Some cool people I've learned about via Missed in History podcast (over time, not just recently):

• Elsa Lanchester
• Charley Parkhurst
• Stede Bonnet
• Walter Potter
• Beryl Markham
• Louise Boyd
• Evliya Celebi
• Empress Elisabeth of Austria

And there are so many more interesting people to learn about! I love being able to listen to so many podcasts.

I got back fairly late, and the rest of my night was spent sitting and being cold and stiff and sore from work. I think I'm going to go lay down now. Ooofff.

November chills

I had two junk drawers that were just getting cluttered with stuff, so I organized them. I also tossed a bunch of stuff. Well recycled. But yeah. Nice to organize. I have a bunch of clutter that is obscured because it is in plastic bins. It doesn't LOOK like clutter, but it's just stuff. I don't have much space in this new room, so I have to maximize what I have. I turned one of the junk drawers into a makeup drawer, and set out all that I've accumulated over the years. I have some decent makeup. I want to get back into wearing it, because it was fun to do so during college. I probably won't be getting up early on weekdays to apply it, but it's a fun hobby.

I took a little walk around the neighborhood as well. It was a brisk, clear night. Just cold enough to warrant a scarf, which is exactly how cold I like it to be.

So the new guy was at work today. Ryan is his name. Because of COURSE the new employee will have the same name as someone else I already know in Santa Cruz. He is only a year younger than me, which is a bit funny because Andrew the other coworker is also a year younger than me and is leaving to do his own thing. Interesting how three people can be the same age but be in totally different places in life, but arriving at the same vector point. Many different paths. Some work, some go to school, some work many jobs, some work one for years. Ryan seemed to pick up what we were putting down. Screenprinting is a lot of systems and little things, and you really learn it by doing and seeing. Training someone really makes you appreciate how much knowledge you have, and how much work it took to acquire it.

Outside of training, I burned stuff, I caught, I counted, I cleaned. The day moved pretty fast.

This week is moving pretty fast! Already Wednesday.

today I learned about Empress Cixi and Evliya Celebi

Super convenient living within easy walking distance of Target. Need Cheerios and toilet paper? Boom right there. And.. oops forgot to get something. Well. That is find, because it is right there! Though they haven't been stocking airheads in their dollar bin area. And an Ulta opened up in the mall, and they have a superior skin care selection, though right now I'm working my way through some products and seeing how my skin looks. I'll be needing a new bottle of cleanser in a month or so, so don't know if I'll keep with the same one, got back to Cetaphil, or try something new. It's interesting to read up on skin care, and reading blogs that are not sponsored talk about what is "normal" for skin, compared to what products say they'll deliver. And then you'll get posts that are like "make sure to change your pillowcases regularly and wash your headphones if you use over the ear ones" and it's like... duh. One can take care of their skin as much as they like, but if they just rub their face on an old pillow case, it defeats the purpose!

So many sides to everything.

The new hire didn't start today, but I think he'll be in tomorrow.

Today was relatively short. Burned screens. Coated screens. Activated a new thing of emulsion. Cleaned screens to get ready for reclaiming. Hauled the trash down.

The problem with changing your address at the post office is now I am getting all these spam letters. Come on USPS, don't give my address to THE MAN!

Really need to get drawing on my holiday stuff. I'm making gift lists! So if you want something, drop me a hint.

chemically treated

We are getting a new employee tomorrow, I think. They are going to be trained on the embroidery unit, and the order of shifts and stuff is going to change around. It'll be interesting. I dunno. We have a nice productivity level right now with Jeff and I running shirts and Andrew running excess, but Andrew is working on his own stuff now. Soo yeah. The dynamic shall change, but hopefully for the better.

Jeff and I ran some shirts, but there were oodles of set up things to figure out. I reclaimed some screens at the end of the day. We've got a good thing going right now in terms of keeping ahead of screens piling up. The room is full of screens to be used. Squeegees and floodbars are cleaned. Mmm hmm.

I spilled some gas on my pants at work, when I was filling up the generator, so I promptly washed them when I got home. And I threw in my work shirts and my other jeans. But then I set the washer to hot water.... and now my work shirts are a bit blue. Oops. Oh well. They'll wash out again next time around. Might be time to add another six pack to the rotation, it's been a few months.

I listened to podcasts about Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She has very pretty hair. And about John James Audubon. And Walter Potter's taxidermy. All very interesting stuff!

I also took a bath. Love using scented epsom salts. Now my hair smells all good. Mmm good smelling Trillian is much better than gasoline, dehazer, and blow out fluid smelling Trillian. I wear gloves! And an apron! I try to keep it off my skin, and when it does get on my skin, I wash it off as soon as possible.

indoors

Saturday:

Today I took on my room! I had stuff still in a box from the move and I just had clutter and I needed to decrowd my room. So I listened to podcasts and worked on that. And now my room is much cleaner! Theres more clear space and stuff is put away. And I did some laundry. There was some bonfire hanging out. I watched Exit Through the Gift Shop. Watched other TV. Did my makeup all fancy like. Pretty mellow day.

Sunday:

Today was focused around the house meeting. Justen, Tara, and I went to get the fixings for the communal brunch of hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, fried bananas, and mimosas. Mmmm. Justen did most of the cooking and I did some setting up of plates. I moderated the meeting and it went pretty well. Nothing really had to be sussed out aside from a few bits about dish washer stuff.

Now I'm just relaxing. Watching telly. Ate some noodles. Another week starts! Whooo!

Oh, and there is a Christmas List posted to the right of this blog. Just putting that out there.

friday mild day

Ended up being a shorter day. Burned and cleaned and taped and prepped. And I did a couple banners. Nice note to end the day on.

At home I wandered over to the mall and bought some things. Some unmentionable things. Some mystery action figures in secret boxes things. Some epsom salts for bath things.

Took a bath. Vegged. Painted my fingernails.

Now to look at my budgeting for the rest of the year as I come up to the holidays. Two weeks off is nice, but that is a whole paycheck to be down. Hmmm. But I'll be better off than last year!

viva la pod

Wednesday:

I spent the day cleaning and reclaiming and coating. Gotta get the screens flowing in, because we've got a few multi color jobs coming up. Caught a bit. Listened to stuff. A standard work day. Nothing too traumatic.

At home we (being housmates plus Dylan and Michael for a bit) relaxed around the fire pit and chatted. I went to bed and that was that.

Thursday:

My shoes were delivered this morning! So quick! That is like, what, 3 days since I ordered? And they fit! Though I have yet to do a full wear and really test them out. But they sure are cute and make me very happy. Yay colorful shoes!

We are sponsors for the Santa Cruz Warriors Pod Squad. aka the people who give shirts at the games. We printed the Pod Squad shirts. After that, I worked on reclaiming and cleaning and burning and coating. I cleaned all the squeegees and floodbars because they were getting goopy. We reuse the white floodbars because we frequently run jobs that use white ink. No sense to clean it when it is going to be used for the same purpose in 20 minutes, you know? But over time they do need cleaning.

Got home lateish. Had some carbs for dinner.

My friend Dee sent me a whale shaped tea infuser. It's really awesome. Dee is the best. I sent her the stuff I got her in Hawaii on Wednesday. It's nice to give and receive gifts. I made some tea with the infuser.

Friday tomorrow. This week just went by. Woooooosh! Time goes so fast. Still waiting to hear back about what days I'll have off for Christmas.

Also Kon-Tiki is on Netflix Instant! Yay!

red shoes!

A few days ago, I saw that my dream shoes (red Palladium boots) were available in my size on Zappos. I decided to wait on the purchase. See if I still wanted them in a few days. And I waited...and I still wanted them. So I got them! Hopefully they fit nicely. I should probably Goodwill some of the shoes I haven't worn in a while. I should Goodwill a lot of things. Look at the clothes I moved and have yet to wear. Though because of my job and current social life, I'm not really engaging in the cool part of my wardrobe. Hmmm. But there are some things that I for sure don't see myself wearing any time soon. That should be one of my weekend goals for this coming weekend: thrift shop donation. Clear some clutter!

Also make a holiday card to mail to people! I wonder what would make for a good design. Hmmm. Maybe something with a tropical fish?

I've been listening to the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast mostly. So many great little topics, and they all inform one another the more you listen. I learned where "Goody" came from, in terms of name titles. It's like Mrs. So Goody Garlick is Mrs. Garlick. Goody is short for Goodwife. I wondered what was up with all those Goody ladies in Shadow of Night.

I caught aprons, I taped screens, I caught a discharge job, I cleaned screens, I taped more screens. I gave Andrew some chocolate. Pretty nice day at work, and it was warm!

back in action

Sunday:

Slept in! Hurray! I walked some errands. Tried to see if Target had small compostable liners but no go. Got good at Trader Joe's. Went home and set about making a bacon risotto, then I swept and vacuumed. Got things tidier. Took it easy. In the evening, Justen set about making a fire in the pit in the back yard, and he, Michael, and Dylan tried to make some hot dogs. It took a lot of figuring out and some lost hot dogs before it came together. Their friend Allie also came over. Beer was drunk. Risotto was eaten. It was nice.

Monday:

Back to work! The first thing that happened was my boss startling me as I was leaving my car. I was parking blocking a van, and he asked me to relocate. So I did so. He picked his box of chocolate and asked if I had fun. The damage of my absence wasn't too bad. There is a not wholly unreasonable amount of screens to clean. Some of the boxes were a bit unorganized. Otherwise, whoooo not burned down! Got right to burning screens and catching and boxing shirts and burning and taping and catching, and then cleaning. A good day! Good to back.

Relaxing at home. Have a bit of a headache. There was something I was thinking of doing but I forgot so...now I'm not doing it. Uhhh.

double feature with a break inbetween

Woke up earlyish, which is good considering the time change. Gave Justen some chocolate in thanks for driving me, and then had breakfast and tea.

I swung by Janet's and left her gift on the stoop. Hope she likes it!

I did my laundry.

I went to the 4:40 showing of 12 Years a Slave, which was amazing. Tragic, horrific, depressive, heart rending, but amazing all the same. One of those powerful dramatic movies that cuts right through you. Chiwetel Ejiofor was absolutely amazing. So talented he is.

I bought pizza for dinner and went home to chill.

Then I came back downtown for the 9:30 showing of Thor 2! I met up with Ryan, Veitta, and Crystal. And later on Rich and Ariel joined us. Ahh very good movie. Villain was a bit eh, but the effects and fights were good and it was funny but poignant. Very enjoyable movie.

I've got my to-do for tomorrow, and then it is back to work!

back home like I was never gone, waaah

A day of travel! Whoo!

Got up 7ish and showered and stuffed the chocolate on top of my packed things. I tucked it in with my towel, and hoped it wouldn't melt. Had some tea and a bit of a pastry, then we were off! We checked out and south we went. We stopped by a National Park so Mom could get her stamp for her book. Rental car was dropped off, we checked in at the airport, and since we were melting in the humidity and warmth, we went into the airport restaurant and got some food and enjoyed the A/C for a while.

Once it got crowded and we didn't have any more food to occupy ourselves with, we went back outside (Kona has a mostly open air airport, which is nice but also horrible when you are dressed to head to colder climates). I was seated behind Ma and Pa. The flight from Kona to Honolulu is a short one, and we were touching down in no time. My plane departed way away from Ma and Pa's so we hugged and I went through the agriculture line. There was the LeSportsac bag shop, and I liked their duffles, but when I store doesn't openly list prices I know it's probably too pricey for me. Just looked up the brand. Yeah, those are three figure bags. No thank you!

I sat at my gate and watched cartoons on my laptop till it was time to board. The plane had a big salmon graphic on the side of it, so that was cool. The plane was far from full, and I had all three seats to myself. No free meal and I was hungry so I bought one. It was good though. I watched more stuff on my computer till the battery ran low, then I listened to podcasts and worked on my crossword puzzles. Pretty effortless flight. We even arrived 20 minutes early, so I texted Nathan and he was on his way.

My luggage came out just fine and all the chocolate was there and in tact. Whoo! Nate picked me up, we grabbed some drive through, and he took me home to Santa Cruz. We talked about the trip, art, movies, all sorts of things. I gave him all the goodies, and he was pretty enthused to get the stuff. He liked the shirt and the munchies. Nice for him to drive me back so late!

I unpacked about 90% of my stuff. Don't have the energy to do it all tonight. Plus it is late. Well late here. I'm on Hawaii time so it's just 10:30 now. Hmmm.

fish poop

Whoo! Snorkel tour day! I was up bright and early. We all were. Grabbed some snacks, packed our bags, grabbed towels and we were out the door bright and early 7:15am!

The meet up place was about an hour south, and from there we would get on a boat and go further south. Before boarding we were set up with masks. I traded in my new and better snorkel. There was plenty of room on board, but still a good crowd of people. Not too many kids. Mostly adults. They served up breakfast of tea, coffee, muffins, egg thingies, fruit, and other stuff. We munched as the boat took us to Captain Cook's Bay of Bay Things.

The sun wasn't all the way out, but that was nice. Nice to not be under its full wrath. It was still warm and the water was nice. We anchored, got a quick run down of dos and don'ts, and then fins and goggles were on and it was snorkel time!

Despite whatever shape I'm in, I can still swim pretty good with fins. My legs are probably in good shape. My arms and belly? Not so much. But being on my feet all day gives some perks. I was diving and going low and up and down and up. Holding my breath. Saw so many lovely colorful awesome fish. I saw a parrot fish. A nice big one. I could hear it munching on the coral. I followed it around for a while, which is a nice way of snorkeling, and I was just starting to think about how nice the scene was when it let loose a big fishy poop. Ruined the moment!

I took a little on boat break and tried out the slide and diving platform. Lunch was served and I ate a hot dog and burger. I let that digest a bit and I was back in the water! This time I stuck with Ma and Pa a bit better. We took the rest of the underwater camera exposures. Hopefully those turn out! Ma pointed out a little fish cleaning station, where tiny fish cleaned bigger fish.

Finally all aboard was called, and we clambered aboard. There was a little video about the fish and it had a clip of a scuba diver getting his teeth cleaned.

I took a nap on the drive home, and a longer nap once we got back to the hotel. All that exercise and early morning stuff really took it out of me!

We caught the Hula show at the hotel plaza, which was awesome. This guy lit his tongue on fire and then lit his fire thingies on fire with his tongue. We all had drinks and then returned to the room and chilled and packed. Then did the necessary chocolate shopping. We had dinner at Lava Lava and my pineapple jasmine fried rice arrived in half a hollowed out pineapple! That was sorta amazing.

Now it is packing time. Oh woe. Back to the mainland I go.

up north again

Today was the designated rest between lots of sun exposure day. It's nice to do a sun day then a shade day. Mom booked a snorkel tour for Thursday, so yay! Hopefully I won't get sunburned. It's a full morning thing.

We checked out the petroglyph field by Kings' Land. It had so many carvings, though some looked a bit modern. Still, nice that it was preserved. Preserved riiiight next to the golf course.

Merriman's Restaurant was our lunch destination. I had pork saimin, mom had beet salad, dad had salad nicoise. Then mom took the initiative and ordered two desserts! A flan thing with jam and cookies, and a chocolate thing with ice cream. Both were amazing.

Further up North (today was a Northern Hawaii trip) Tex provided some malasadas. Mmmmm. So warm and fluffy and tasty.

Akaka Falls was nice. Very lush and jungle-esque. Had some nice waterfalls and the hike wasn't so much a hike as a stroll on the path.

We headed south and stopped in this little six building town where I procured some lovely button up shirts. Awesome! They were second hand and totally my style.

Laupahoehoe Harbor had some nice rough waves. A tidal wave was responsible for many deaths there several decades ago. There is a lot of consistent disasters on Hawaii.

Instead of hitting more beaches, we went back to the hotel early. There was a bit of shopping. I got one final shirt. I should be all shopped out now...except for chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Gotta get fat stacks of those.

I like turtles

I am very much pink on my arms and down my back. Got mucho sun, but not a sun burn! So that is good.

Dad and I had the full protein extravaganza buffet then we packed up for our day out. We went to the Hilton lagoon. It was a bit constructed, but in the end it offered up plenty of nice fish to see, and turtles! There was a Moorish Idol, Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Unicorn Surgeonfish, Spiny Pufferfish, I saw a Hawaiian Spotted Pufferfish and tried to signal mom to see it but she didn't, Threadfin Butterflyfish, Bluestripe Butterflyfish, and others. There wasn't any current, but there were kids. But the kids kept away from me.

We swam around and I tried out my new and very marvelous snorkel. We ate ice cream and looked at the dolphins. I don't really support "swim with dolphins" type places. There was a shark in the water, but not the swimming water. Hmmm.

After another dip in the water, we changed into dry clothes and headed out. We got snacks from ABC Store and then headed south for a coffee plantation. We arrived at Greenwell Coffee. Really lovely. Our tour guide had a Tardis shirt and was very informative when it came to telling us about the plantation. Four generations of owners! I bought some coffee for Janet as a gift. I don't think Janet reads this, so it's all good! Surprise!

We swung by two National Parks: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau and Kaloko-Honokohau. The latter had a nice view of the lava rocks and the former featured Royal housing and sacred grounds. Both were very nice and there was a sign calling people out on cultural appropriation. Namely the removal of white coral to make signs on the side of the road.

Teshimi provided an awesome Japanese dinner. I had the udon and rice, which were so good. Some of the best udon I've had. And I bought a shirt. Good to support a cool little place like that. The owner lived to 106!

I'm pretty pink from the sun, but not full on burned. Now I'm just relaxing with soothing creme on my skin and Ma and Pa are watching BBC America.

Only two more full days left in Hawaii. Boo. :(

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.