May 3rd-5th

I’m camped at Zion National Park, Utah right now. It is May 4^th, 2014. It’s been nice not blogging every night, though I have been keeping up with the tumblr and instagram accounts, so I’m still reporting my goings ons. It’s just easier to do from the phone. The blog. This blog. It takes a lot of writing, which isn’t easy when…hold on. I’m going to try something. I could install a blogger ap onto my phone, so that I could save posts on my computer, but then I realized for me to do that, I’d already have to be hooked up to WiFi in which case I’d just post from the computer.

Where was I? Oh yes. My lack of writing here. I’ve been keeping my written travel journal, so I’m not without record. I’m just writing in the journal I started in 2011 when Ma, Pa, and I went to Utah. So when (if) I finish it up, I’ll start a new journal. That way I am keeping with format. I have a bajillion other style of journals and sketchbooks packed. I’ve done a few drawings in one, but I am very much underusing the supplies I have on hand. Tomorrow is devoted to hiking and drawing, provided I get a camping spot. If I don’t get a camping spot…. Well I’ll figure that out later. I wanted to just pitch up a tent, spread out my stuff, and keep it like that for a few days. But that didn’t happen. So tomorrow I’ll try to find a first come first served spot in the South Campground. Fingers crossed!

I guess now is when I pick up where I left off: in a coffee shop in Los Angeles. Courtney let me crash at her place (well her parents) and that was nice. Got in a shower, and we ate tacos and watched TV. I was up early and out the door (I said a goodbye, I didn’t ditch her). The ghost town closed at 5, and I wanted to get there relatively early. There was about three hours between me and there, so off I went! I stopped in Barstow for fast food breakfast, and away I continued. It was a very not pleasant 90-100 degrees. I’ve been applying sun block and I’m not burnt (yet).

Calico Ghost Town…I could have arrived later. I think I was expecting more hikes or lengthier things to do. But also I guess I planned to allow myself time to draw, but it was ridiculously hot. Just 100 degrees and hot and the only A/C was in the shops and I didn’t want to buy anything. I did do a landscape drawing. Just one though. I need to be drawing more! I feel like I’m not. But I’m also just starting…I’ve got a long ways to go.

Anyway. I did the gold panning/mystery shack/mine tour trifecta. All were neat, but nothing too exciting. I think I just wanted more from the ghost town. I filled up my tank in Barstow, and headed to Las Vegas. That straight line across the desert to Las Vegas. That hot, continuous, hours of driving line. I kept hydrated. I didn’t push the A/C too much as to avoid overheating (I saw a sign saying to turn it off to avoid overheating, and I went by many parked cars with their hoods up). I listened to podcasts, drank water, poured the ice water out of my cooler, and pushed onwards. I stopped in Las Vegas for a pee break and ended up getting Subway because I hadn’t eaten much that day. I GPSed Valley of Fire State Park and off I went. I cruised through the rest of Las Vegas as the sun was setting and dang it was beautiful. Then the landscape became engulfed in dark. I pushed forward, and despite it not being late, I didn’t have much company on the road. I turned off towards the State Park. I began to dread a sign informing me the camp ground was full. I drove on and on. No sign appeared, but drivers came from the other direction. Oh no, was it full and they were turning around?

I arrived at the entrance and no sign informed me of it being full, so I grabbed a pay stub and headed in. I pulled into the first campground loop and grew anxious when spot after spot revealed no car but a tent staking claim. Then THEN campsite 19! Nothing was there to indicate someone wanted to be there, so I drove right in and plopped down my cooler. MINE! I went to pay, set my stub in the window, and set about getting my tent erected.

I had to clutch the flashlight in my mouth, but it went up all right. Tent spikes make everything much easier. All by myself! In the dark! And my first time with this tent (Dad helped last time and there were no tent spikes). I put my bedding in. I brushed my teeth. I got my jammies on and then I got comfy! And I read for a while.

Sleep was not easy, as it was VERY windy. Tents & wind = noisy. And it was windy all night long. I took the top cover off, and that helped, because the wind kept pulling it up and all around. Still, not the best night sleep.

I was up early and loved all the rocks that I could now see in daylight. Red formations, very familiar due to previous Utah trips. The bulbous formations. I took my time. I showered (free shower!). I nibbled some cheerios and drew and worked on my journal. I drove around the park a bit, and swung by the visitors center to see if they had any stamps (they did!) and then off I went to Zion. It was an easy drive. 2 hours? Cutting across Arizona on the 15 was nice. It took me through mountains and everything wound this way and that. I got some groceries in Utah, and then I continued on to Zion. Well actually I went to Kolob Canyons…because my GPS took me there. I didn’t look close enough at the map. So I back tracked. The Watchman Campground is reservation only, but there was a group site that the people didn’t confirm on or something, so I am now located on it with three other people: Kyle & Ron, and this other guy I haven’t properly met. And tomorrow I’ll have to get up early and pack up and hope I can score a spot in the first come first served camp ground. But if I can, I’ll just put in my tent and pack out some stuff, and then I won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day. So here’s hoping! I don’t want to cut my time in Zion short.

5/5/2014

I’m in a coffee shop in Springdale, trying to connect to their wifi. I bought an iced mocha. I think this is my “coffee drink” now.

So Rob (not Ron) and Kyle made this hearty stew for dinner, and they shared with me! They were very good company for the night. We chatted about James Clavell novels, movies, and travel. They are sort of my travel opposites. Lots of Midwest, not a lot abroad. We had a plan to share a camping spot in South Campground, if we could find one. Just to make it easier. Had to get up early to nab a spot, but as I’ve now lost an hour due to time zone change (or gained? Oh wait it’s gained, I’m behind an hour). Anyway. Yeah. We sat around the campfire and there was a group of Western University Geology students in another group site, but they went quiet when it got late. I slept very well, and when my alarm went off I did not want to get up and pack. But I did. Kyle and Rob left before me, and I packed haphazardly.

I headed to the south Zion campground, which did not have a “full” sign, and looped around looking for Kyle and Rob, but I could not locate them (also the loops are totally stupid, and you have to start at the start after one loop). BUT I did find the walk in tent sites, and they were open, so I grabbed one, set up my tent, and paid for two nights! Two nights in Zion! So now I get two full days to explore and hike, and a third day to do whatever.

And I was able to unpack my car a little into my tent, so now I don’t have to deal with all my stuff. I can just enjoy the park. And I don’t have to get gas or anything. And I have food. Just gotta throw myself at hiking and art making.

6:33 pm

Okay I’ve obviously NOT found wifi. Argh. It’s all password protected and the coffee shops are closed and I don’t want to buy more treats.

Anyway. I drove up the scenic route, which went through the tunnel. This park lacks loops. Lots of go up and then go back down. The loop was nice. And the weather isn’t scorching hot! And the breezes come through at just the right time. Everywhere I look, I see lovely rock formations. It’s a really great place to be. I parked at my camp site designated parking spot and packed my backpack up with art making supplies and food: granola bars, baby carrots, celery, an apple. Good healthy eating! Of course I also ate some candy, but hey. I’ll burn off those calories post haste!

Today I set out to hike the emerald pools trails. There are lower pools (easy) middle (medium) and upper pools (difficult). I did them all. Though difficult just meant lots and lots of rock stairs for about a mile. Nothing I can’t handle. I did draw. And I got ink all over my hands in doing so. I think I’ll forgo ink for a while and stick to watercolor and pen. Hard not to look dodgy with ink staining your fingers.

At the upper pools, a squirrel stole my apple core! The cheeky bugger. I didn’t mean to feed the wildlife, but it took it upon itself to get fed.

I hiked the route back, oh I forgot to mention I went to the museum and saw the informational video. I took the shuttle, which is a smart thing to have in a park: just shuttle everyone up and down and there will be no congestion! I took the shuttle to the Emerald Pools/Lodge stop and got some ice cream and ate that while reading a bit of Where’d You Go Bernadette, and I got another crusher penny. Then I set out to the Emerald Pools hike. Anyway, returning from the hike, I took the route which dropped me off at the Grotto stop. Three signs on the trail said “The Grotto à .8 mile” Okay, a destination can’t be point eight of a mile away multiple times. Either way, I was proper pooped by the time I got on the shuttle back to the visitor’s center. I walked back to my campsite while eating the rest of my food. I tried to find wifi but thus far I have failed. You’ll just have to wait.

And follow my posts on Instagram (@totallytrillian) and Tumblr (travelswithtrillian). There’ve been plenty of those. It’s easier to post to those than it is to my blog.

7:02 pm

At the market in Springdale, they had the wifi symbol, so after I bought an LED lantern and some gummi cola, I asked for the password. AND NOW I’M CONNECTED! So I’m going to do some internet things, then go back to my tent and crash.

bruised but not burnt

I've done it! I've left Santa Cruz. My journey has begun. I feel like I have far too much stuff, but it's only been a day. Once I start using stuff, things will be organized better. I've already pulled a few items and tucked others. And maybe if I meet up with Ma & Pa, I can send them back to Washington with a few things. Or just mail things. Depends how cumbersome I start to find all my things.

I got ice for my cooler when my peanut butter was almost in a liquid state. The cooler make keep things from being 100 degrees, but it won't keep it cool.

Anyway, I'm skipping around. I'm currently in Los Angeles. It is 7:30 pm. I am at Caffe Martier in the Glendale Galleria. I picked this place because Courtney Coles, PNCA alumni and general awesome person, works here. She's great. And I'm probably going to crash at hers at the end of the day. But I'm skipping ahead once again.

SO! I left Santa Cruz! The sun had set when I departed, and it was proper dark when I procured my cooler from Wal Mart. I topped off my tank and tires at the Shell station, talked to Tara (we never had a full proper goodbye) and then I was off! Once I got past Monterey, it was all new road. I was missing what was surely beautiful scenery by navigating in the dark. But it was nice to take on the winding Route 1 roads at my own pace. I went past Big Sur. I started to have less headlights coming at me. I pulled off the road at 11pm. I knew the ocean was to my right. I could hear it, and I could see an absence of something. I changed into pajamas, rearranged my car, threw the seat back, wrapped myself in blankets and read a bit. Oh and I also took in the grandeur of the stars. That is one thing I'm really looking forward to: stars, sunsets, and sunrises.

The May 2nd sunrise was obfuscated by fog. It was a gray that unveiled the grand Pacific Ocean. I could see my little road winding before me. I had a long journey ahead of me, but I was free to go at my pace.

And since I was starting before 8am, I really had no urgency. I put on fresh underwear and a new shirt, brushed my teeth, and set off into the early morning. Traffic was light, and the weather was beautiful. All sunshine, ocean, and hills. I stopped in Cambria and bought some tea and a cinnamon roll. I ate those and walked around the town and took advantage of the cell reception. I saw the Nitt Witt Ridge, which was this funky house but the first tour of the day wasn't for a while. I continued on the road. I stopped in Morro Bay and got the sand between my toes. I just love the Pacific Ocean. I'll be sad to put my back to it. I was on 101 for a while. Through hills. I saw gas for under $4 so I topped off.

In Ventura, I went to the Channel Islands National Park and got my travel journal stamped. I watched the info video. I walked along the beach. I made myself a PB & J. I bought ice for my cooler and headed off for LA. Good and proper LA. 101 slowed to a crawl for such a long while. I parked (yay free parking) packed up my backpack, smacked myself in the face with the edge of my car door on accident, and strolled into the fancy mall looking very scruffy.

I bought an iced mocha because Courtney apparently makes very good ones. I do agree that it was VERY good. I enthusiastically consumed it. Courtney and I talked during her break. And now I am that person on their computer in a coffee shop who has only ordered one drink. I wonder how many times I'll be that person?

But yeah. I got a car full of stuff. Gotta do something with it! But if I end up setting up camp for several days, then I can unpack my more heavy duty art supplies and utilize them.

I don't know how often I'll be able to update this blog, so if you seek more daily updates check out:
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last sunset in Santa Cruz

Got up bright and early and Justin helped me haul my mattress off! With that out of the way, I spent the day sorting and getting stuff out of my room so that I could clean it. Sorting, packing, put things into proper boxes, just putting things in boxes. Moved it into the living room so that it would be the next stage packing area. I patched up the tack holes, I painted over some marks on the wall. It was also ridiculously hot.

But I got a good amount done.

At 6:40ish I walked down to The Pocket to meet Jeff for a few brewskis. And Ryan was there! And Chris showed up! It was another going away party, but totally a surprise. And Kara came too. We played pool (horribly on my part) and they all bought me drinks and I had too many drinks. I got home fine (Jeff gave me a lift), but I went right to sleep instead of packing.

And then I woke up hungover and it took hours to get going and down to business. And damn did business take a while! I sorted art supplies, I packed things, I reduced the amount of clothes I was packing, I went through toiletries. Packing for what is supposed to be a months long journey is hard. It feels like a lot of stuff, and I'm not sure if I'll use it all, but I also don't want to buy things that I would have been able to pack.

But right now I am looking at a pile of my stuff. I made a run to the storage unit. Hopefully my last run. I'm bringing bedding as well as the sleeping bag, because I feel like some nights it would be fine to just wrap up with a blanket. But anyway. Maybe I'll put a blanket into storage when I look at my car situation. I need to get a cooler. My first stop will be Wal Mart. They should have a cooler. Then I'll fill up my tank and head South on Highway 1 for LA and great adventure! Not planning on getting to LA tonight. Just maybe put a few hours of Santa Cruz behind me.

Well. I'm going to go pack it away. You'll be hearing from me next place I get wifi.

days remain

All that remains is my mattress, desk, and chair. All my shelves are out. Well actually no, one shelf remains. But I haven't put stuff into it yet. 9am tomorrow I am moving my mattress in, which means I can start packing stuff around it and to the back, instead of having to leave a corridor in my storage unit.

I went to Big 5 and got a tarp for my tent and some tent spikes. I couldn't locate a cooler in a good size. I'll probably get the cooler last, maybe on the road or something. Just swing into a Wal Mart on the way and grab one. I also got a backpack at Ross. A good sized one for day trips. Enough room for a jacket, a snack, and art making supplies.

And I made a post office run. I'm all set on stamps! Had a few things to mail out, so those are on their way. Ma & Pa, keep an eye on your mailbox!

So yeah, packed stuff away. Got yet another tub. This one is a "totally going on the trip" tub, so that I can put things in it while I sort other things. It's all getting whittled down, bit by bit! One big push tomorrow and that should be it. I want to be able to leave early on Thursday.

Day after tomorrow. Damn.

Oh, Tara and I axed apart my bed frame. It was fun. It'll be firewood!

I met Ryan for one final 99 Bottles pint night. It was New Belgium night. The sour beer was really good. Ryan won a pint glass. He, Anita, and Dan will be taking care of my plants. Here's to their survival! We had a good hug goodbye.

Hugs goodbye. :(

One more full day. Gotta get cracking!  But I'm so close to being there.

wow what a gross movie, I love it

I'm watching Dead Alive/Braindead right now and omg. It's a 1992 Peter Jackson movie and it's so weird and gorey and gross and just. Omg. And Jed Brophy, who played Nori, is in it! And it's so weird and gross and absolutely just... strange.

Saturday Garth and I got Thai food for lunch/breakfast. I finally found a place that makes larb in the proper way! Not the weird way like with that place in Portland with the drag queens. Then I headed back and worked on packing. Didn't have to make a lunch food item run! Didn't have to go to bed early! Though I still did. Had to get on with the major packing, after all!

I made three runs to my storage unit today (Monday). And I reorganized it to make more room. Not sure how to assess what I have now. Like, what is the best way to organize some of this stuff. I guess I should focus on getting all the furniture out, and then sort the tidbits.

I'm just going to trash my bed frame, because 1) it was cheap to being with 2) the bolts are stripped so I can't take it apart anyway. It's not really worth saving and the effort to give it away on Craigslist is just. Well it's effort.

So I packed and ate pasta and packed and stowed stuff away. I have some errands to run, so I'll work on that tomorrow. Gotta change my address and mail some stuff. And check out the cooler selection at Big 5. I want to meet up with the pals at 99 Bottles, so I have to get stuff done earlier in the day.

Damn Dead Alive is so weird holy crap.

Saturday in the City

My Saturday was the most perfect Saturday. Even if things didn't go to plan, everything that happened was wonderful. To have every day like today would be a dream.

On the ride up to Oakland, traffic stopped momentarily on 17. I was wondering if there was a wreck, but then a deer bounded by my car and it was obvious people had stopped to let it pass. Things picked up and off I went. I used my GPS to navigate to Robin's, and I bought a car charger for my phone (only $15!) so now I don't have to worry about my phone dying on the road.

I parked at Robin's and we got through the catching up and what's been going on and all that happenings. Her apartment has really been furbished out since last I visited. It looks great! I drove down to the Bart station and parked on a side street, and we rode over to the Ferries Landing or whatever it is called. Turns out the stop was further from the museum than we originally thought. Like a whole bus ride further. Oops! Robin showed me how to use my GPS (well Google Maps) to figure out the bus route to take, and there was a free shuttle to the Presidio! Booyah! But I'm getting ahead of ourselves. I held a spot in line at Blue Bottle Coffee and Robin fetched us sandwiches from Cowgirl Place Sandwiche Something (not the real title). We each ate half with plans to eat the other half later, but switch sandwiches. Mine was mozzarella and proscuitto, hers was turkey and some other cheese. She treated me to New Orleans style iced coffee (which has chicory in it) and got herself a coffee. Oh that was good iced coffee! Good enough for me to drink, and I'm not a coffee drinker.

We walked down to where my phone said the shuttle would pick us up, and we sat on the grass and talked and drank our coffee. It was a nice jaunt up through the Presidio, and the last stop was only a few blocks from the museum! Hurray! All this time I was texting Josh & Carmen who were going to join us at the museum.

The museum in question is the Walt Disney Family Museum. There is a special Mary Blair exhibit happening right now, with her original art works, and I had to see it! Mary Blair did visual development and illustration for Disney in the 30's and 40's. Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Three Caballeros. The exhibit was really nice. You could get up close to the originals. Some didn't look so well preserved as the paper had yellowed and we theorized that the color had faded on the paints. Still, her work was wonderful! And everyone dug it (Carmen and Josh showed up about 20 minutes after we did). There were many really nice quotes put up about her, and it really made it seem like she was appreciated. Of course it's easy to make it seem that way long after the fact, but hey! Her art lives on!

I picked up a few postcards and then we went out to get juice! Carmen drove us. I had fancy immune booster carrot juice and a wheatgrass shot. Went healthy! I drew in my sketchbook. We conversed. It was a windy, bright day. Afterwards, we got a life to the station. I hugged C & J goodbye, grabbed my Odd Owl poster, and off Robin & I went to hop on the train and go back to Oakland! It was an easy crossing, though I felt a total tourist for always putting away my card and having to take it back out. Robin had me drive over to this alley of artsy shops in Oakland, and we wandered around that area for a bit. I put on some foo foo that smelled like trees. I really liked it. I'm not much of a foo foo person, but I'll have that foo foo! I didn't get it though. Expensive! My car got a bit misplaced, but we found it! We didn't take note of which streets it was on when I parked, but backtracking returned us. I hung out at her lovely apartment and had some tea.

Before it got too late, we hugged out goodbyes for the time being, and I set out for 45 minutes south of Oakland: Mountain View. Garth was working late, so I hung out in In-N-Out with a burger, fries, and shake and my Kindle and read and had a little peaceful me time. Nice to just sit and read. Okay eating a burger undoes all the healthy eating I did earlier today, but whatever. Garth and I shared a pitcher at this little dive bar near his place. There was a darts tourney happening, and damn if they all didn't consistently hit the dart board!

All around, through and through a great day.

my final day of work

My final day of work played out in many ways like any day. I counted out a large order of sweatpants (which was my final task). I burned a bunch of screens. I taped up those screens.

But the nice thing was Boss made a little food party happen. Kara brought some pizza and hotdogs and carrot cake back from Costco, so Boss, Ryan, Jeff, JP, Kara, Stu, and I all hung around eating food and chatting and eating some more. I had two slices of pizza and a hot dog, and then half a hot dog later. ALSO Boss got me another giant bag of candy as a going away present! I just finished the last bag last night. This one is an assortment of chocolates. Like Milky Way and Snickers. Mini ones. So spoiled. It was hard no to tear up during the little lunch. Despite the occasional stressful day, it's been a really nice work environment. I was given challenging tasks, my skills were honed, I was treated with respect and never disregarded due to my gender which is huge because it's a blue collar manual labor based job (on top of needing an eye for detail). It's been a good place to work for, and I'm glad I'm leaving on a good note. I ended up closing up the shop, as everyone else went home one by one. So I did have a little cry in the exposure room. I don't know what emotion specifically I was expressing in that moment, just that it all got to me. My final day! And that I'll be missed. Jeff said that he was glad that he worked there while I was working there.

It's been... it's been a thing. I don't know how to really digest it.

It was raining and cold today. Really actual full raining. Almost cleansing rain, if I were feeling more poetic.

A cold, quiet day. With warm plentiful food. Mmm.

Dropped off a few more things at the storage unit. My art folder, my table, some bins. It's filling up. Just gotta leave room for the mattress.

I had a little breather at home, and then I cruised downtown to the Boardwalk to meet up with Ryan, Anita, and Dan for some bowling! Dan also had his last day at work, so it was double celebration. Dan is what is known as being a "good bowler". He has his own ball! The rest of us get gutter balls. Though I did manage a strike! One strike...between two games. Oh well. I like to play, I'm just not very good. But I think that's how I am at a lot of things. I'll do, I'll try and if I don't win. Oh well.

Ryan and I walked around a bit, before I dropped him off at Dan & Anita's. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me! I'm going up to The City to see Robin and to see the Mary Blair exhibit. So it's off to bed with me! Up and at them!

It's a new day, and I'm nearing the end of the Santa Cruz chapter of my life.

and tomorrow is Friday and then that is it

Got all the stuff out from under my bed! Yay! And I did two loads of laundry, so my sheets can get packed away. I got my art off the closet doors. My room is really starting to empty out, and I have days left. So that's awesome. Saturday I have plans up in The City with Robin, and Friday I might be going bowling with Anita, Dan, and Ryan, and others. But I feel pretty good about where I am, productivity level, so I can allow myself some social ness. The next step is packing away the little things. I need to get all the stuff out of the way so I can "yes" or "no" the remaining things properly. AHhh!!! Dang.

It's really cooking now!

And tomorrow is my LAST day of work! LAST! I'll be done. After almost very nearly 2 years. I'll be leaving Cadillac Designs. It doesn't seem like much, but 2 years of hard labor with very specific and broad knowledge.

Today I was on heat pressing duty. Heat pressed safety vests and heat pressed jerseys and weeded a bit. It ended up being a shorter day, which was good as it gave me some time.

And tomorrow is my last day. Oh what a ride it has been!

3/5ths of the way done

Got one of my rolling shelves packed away, and a box with some more books, and a tub with clothes and stuff. Things are really starting to empty out here. I need to do some laundry. Wash my sheets. Then I can pack those away. I swung by Target and got some more tubs, and a three tiered portable thingy was on sale, so I grabbed that for art supplies. I will be so set on toting art supplies! Stoked. Things are coming together. More things are leaving my room every day. It'll be easier to organize things now that so much has been removed from the equation.

So yeah, good progress is being made! I've got a week. I've got this. I don't want to take the art down yet, but I will have to soon. Under my bed are a few flat boxes, my art portfolio, and that drafting table. I need to get those out, so I can dismantle the bed frame.

Bit by bit!

Work. I caught a job and ran it for a bit while Jeff mixed ink. And I did heat presses on these saftey vests. And coated screens. It was another full day. Vests take a lot of time. Oh! I also counted in this job that had so much random stuff. Did a tally of everything and hopefully the counts work out. It'll be ran after I'm gone. Kinda sad setting up stuff that I'll never see finished. The shop work goes on.

Two more days.

it's only Tuesday but it feels much later in the week

Bought yet another little multi folder folder thingy. Those plastic ones with dividers. I love using them to organize things. This one is for the trip, for stickers and coasters and flat knickknacks. Also documents. And I treated myself to Chipotle for dinner because I worked late. I went through all the stuff on my end table and tossed a bunch of clutter, and pulled some things to put in my car to take to storage tomorrow. I spent a good long while organizing and it didn't seem like I did much, but I did something. I also cleaned out my tackle box and rinsed it. Now it'll get the chosen art supplies stored into it!

Hopefully I get out of work tomorrow with more time in the evening with which to pack and sort. I think once I get the shelves out, it'll really feels like something. I almost have the one by the side of my desk emptied.

It'll get there. I still have art on my walls and my furniture, so it doesn't seem caved out. Just gotta keep doing it and working on it. Also since I have plans for this weekend that remove me from Santa Cruz, I gotta be extra productive!

Work? Well I weeded and coated and reclaimed and burned and taped. We got a new table in the office and a shiny new computer for doing shiny computer things. The sun was out but it was windy, so I was in shorts and a hoodie. Though the hoodie came off every once and a while.

four days left at work

Dropped stuff off at my storage unit after work. A quick trip, but not quick enough because Palace Arts was closed before I could get to them to pick up some stuff. Womp wooomp. Tomorrow.

I was tired all damn day. I think I'll go to bed early just so I can let my body fully rest. I stayed up late packing and sorting and tidying. Sleep schedules are important.

We ran the zipper fronts on these sweaters which took a while because we wanted to do a really good job of it. I also did this banner and coated a few screens and started work on vinyl. Pulled a full shift!

Did a Trader Joe's run. Had some pre-made spring rolls because I was feeling lazy. Had a nice chat with Jeff. A rejuvenation day. Tomorrow I want to do a supply run and get my packing on once again.

Things are starting to feel...packed away.

happy easter, have some hot wings

Saturday:

Got up early so that I could go to the dog beach and hopefully see Janet and Joey. Wanted to give them a hug before I took off. It was a beautiful day for going to the beach, and yet parking was readily available. I bought a doughtnut from the dog beach society people, and found Janet and Joey and Alicia (I think that is her name) and her doggy. Joey got all up in my business and gave me doggy kisses. It was wonderful. I got a few travel suggestions too. I hung around the beach after we parted and grabbed some photos and really took in the surroundings. Lighthouse Field State Beach was the first place in Santa Cruz that I visited way back when. I remember how unfamiliar coming down Ocean Street felt, and now it is all so largely familiar. I feel myself withdrawing some Santa Cruz, and seeing every place as a final visit. Really making sure to do the grand tour on my leaving.

I dropped off some stuff at my storage unit. I need a few more boxes. Well, I think I'll need some file folders more like. I have a lot of paperwork things.

And then after some lunch and lounging, I went up north to Mountain View to see... you guessed it. Garth! What can I say, he is good company. We went to Single Barrel, which was a speakeasy/is a speakeasy themed bar. I've heard about it for years, foremost from Nathan who I think went there shortly before I came down to California. Anyway, they have rules about being soft spoken and polite and no ringtones. And the bartenders talk to you about what you like and make you a cocktail based on that. And damn I got a tasty citrus whiskey drink that was so good, holy crap. Our bartender was just awesome. There was also this special drink that Garth ordered that you can only get from 5-6pm, because it takes 8 minutes to properly shake due to egg white being an ingredient and needing to make it all foamy. And you just can't have someone shake a tumblr for 8 minutes throughout the night. And I had a "Laphroaig Project" which was all kinds of smoky and tasty. I don't remember the name of my first cocktail, but it did have one. Damn good drinking. We had dinner after wards at this Italian place. We split a steak and I opted for a salad side, and he pasta. Salad! Me! Can you believe it?

I introduced Garth to Attack the Block, which he said was "pretty good". I say it's amazing. Love those aliens.

Sunday:

I stuck around in Mountain View. There was an error in locating a place to eat due to forgetting it was Easter and that restaurants would be closed. But an awesome Korean chicken place was open! Nothing says brunch like hot wings and kimchi coleslaw! The extra spicy wings made me start to cry, so I was only able to eat one. But only half the order was super spicy, which was Garth's half.

When I was driving back, I saw a car stopped by a cop right where 17 stops being so winding, and it was have been a fresh pull over because the cars were just starting to slow down to drive around the cars. As I drove South, I saw the cars get increasingly lined up. Those poor drivers. There are few options of getting off 17 once you are on it. I've never been stuck in heinous 17 traffic. I'm always going the other way when it happens.

I packed and packed and watched TV and packed some more. Got a few things in my car, and filled up a few boxes but not all the way. I need to sort through my drawers of things next, because I can just move the drawers without storing away whats in them. Just have to make sure they aren't things I want on my journey, just as paper and art supplies.

Do you know if it is possibly to jury rig a bike lock to a car steering wheel to make it so people can't break into your car and drive it away? Like those anti theft stick things. My goal for travel is to make it so I won't have anything in my back seat when I'm parked to make people want to break into my car. So cooler + clothes + technology + art supplies + bedding need to all fit in the truck.

Gotta pack gotta pack gotta pack

next week is my last week of work. dang. the LAST.

Took down the knick knacks from my tetris shelves, packed up 3/4 of my books, and some shirts. It's still not a big chunk. But I guess I gotta halve everything and then halve it again. Just whittle it down instead of making final decisions at the get go, ya know? Anyway. Made some progress at that. I'll make more progress over the weekend. I don't want to take my art down, because that'll make it all barren. But I must!

Anyhoo. Talked to ma and pa. Had a nice little evening in. I'm planning on going to the dog beach tomorrow morning. Gotta see Janet and Joey!

Work was a shorter day. The job ran really well up until the printing over the zipper part, which is very difficult to do well. I coated screens. Refreshed Ryan in how to coat them. I taped and burned. I tided up. I counted. The weather was good. I took some photos with my new shmancy phone, because I have like...no photos of the studio. Even though after nearly two years, I could probably draw it all from memory.

smartiepants

I got up early and called Straight Talk and gave them the info to switch my phone over from Verizon. They said it may take a few hours, but up to 36. So I went to work eagerly anticipating the activation of my ZTE Savvy. Savvy, like a pirate. Hee. Yay.

Anyway, work was all right. Started cold but it warmed up. I peeled the numbers off this vinyl banner and applied new ones. And burned and taped. And did the tertiary stuff. Jeff has been teaching Ryan press & catching stuff. The day went by though, slowly but surely. I burned and double coated some stuff right at the end. Full 8 hours. And now tomorrow is Friday. And then it will be the weekend. And then my last week of work.

I spent the night playing and fiddling about with my phone. I got several apps running. Customized the ring tones. My text message alert is the bing bong from Cabin Pressure and my ring tone is Allam as Richardson singing Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. I got phones on the wallpaper and photos on the lock screen, and my own lock screen unlock! Anyway, I'm stoked on all the features and I'm pleased thus far. The layout will take some getting used to. Still figuring out where things go and how to turn this and that off. But yay, I am now a smart phone haver!

that's one of the big things ALMOST out of the way

Bought my phone! A ZTE Savvy. Hopefully it's good! I bought a warranty. $15 and it covers everything except if I lose it or it gets stolen. Works for me, don't wanna drop it and then it breaks and all that. Tomorrow morning I try to set it up! So exciting.

I packed up some clothes and mugs and took a few boxes to my storage unit. I like the storage unit because they have dollies free to use. Makes it so easy. Gotta just take all my stuff bit by bit and go through it. Just sit and sort. And clean out my art supply tackle box to put travel art supplies into it. Just what to take? Ahhh!

I've got two weeks. Dang!

Had pasta for dinner. Mm.

Work. We have a bunch of rush jobs. I counted out tons of shirts. I caught a job. I did banner rope on a banner, which was a multi layering process. Had to put down banner rope to reinforce the edges. Had to tape it down and put double sided tape on top of that. It doesn't stick totally well.

kinder surprise

House meeting tonight. Justin cooked and damn it was good! Potatoes with bacon, quinoa, chicken in a butternut squash soup thing. Mmm. Very good! I was full but not bloated and all was well. Meeting went good too, surprisingly quick actually. Maybe because half of us are moving out in two weeks, lengthy conversations are not so needed.

Didn't advance on packing, but the meeting took up time. And I went straight from getting home to dinner to meeting. I like to have ~20 minutes after work to myself to just vege and I didn't get that.

I did some banners at work, though these ones needed banner rope. Burned and taped a job. Weeded vinyl. I think I did some other stuff, but I didn't catch. I guess banners and punching out stickers took up most of my time. Not a bad day.

And now my paycheck and return are deposited, so I can go get a smartphone and join the wunderkinder! Or whatever that word is for magical people.

1 down

Officially declared May 25th as my last day at work. That'll give me 5ish days to pack up and clean, without having to rush my weekends.

9 days work days left. Wow.

I caught shirts for most of the day. We had to have the garage door shut due to Ryan sanding outside and us having a vehicle in the garage that couldn't get the sand shavings on it and stuff. Anyway, it got really really stuffy and hot for the majority of printing. We drank lots of water to keep cool, but uhg..

I cleaned some squeegees and floodbars, and coated screens. And told the boss the 25th was the last day.

Dang.

At home I got to work on an Odd Owl illustration, and I worked on it for many many hours. It took a while to draw, and I didn't get any packing work done. But I'm pleased with the drawing! Haven't heard back about it yet, though.

Watched the moon eclipse. That was neat.

counting down the days and they are dwindling in number

I've got just over two weeks to get all my stuff into storage! Ahhh! Well, I just gotta get the big stuff out of the way in the next couple days. Books, clothes, shelving units. There's a lot of stuff that can be packed straight up. Just gotta start doing it. Gotta figure out when I'm moving my mattress. I could sleep on the couch for a few nights, no problemo. I got my bike into the storage unit today, so that is out of the way. Tomorrow I will pull out all the boxes and stuff I have laying about and start filling them up. Since the complex is open till 10pm, I could drop stuff off on the same day.

What am I going to do with my jade plant though? ARGHH! Well, at least I don't have a kid. Can't put kids into storage.

Anyway. Garth visited me in Santa Cruz. I find myself being so much more social now that I am heading out of town. It's a level of encouragement to see people and hang out. But it's better to create ties and work on friendships and whatnot, as opposed to just closing myself off.

We (Garth & I) went to Zoccoli's and they didn't have any maple candy! Gah! Why have so few people tried that maple candy? It's so good. And we hung out at Verve, and swung by Comicopolis, where I got the two new Sandman issues and Garth got a card game (Boss Monster) which we played a round of. Pretty fun game. You make dungeons and you have to kill the heroes that go through your dungeons. I didn't win, but I often don't win games. I still like to play them. We have plans to hang out next weekend, so I better get a move on with my packing and planning! But I have weekday evenings that I tend to do nothing with anyway.

Watched Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley (which lost some interest for me in the second episode) and an episode of Justified and Bob's Burgers and see what I mean about not doing anything in the evening?

Crap, need to go to sleep.

cold cold HOT cold colder coldest

Friday:

Wore pants to work. I could tell it was going to be a cold one, and I was right. I cut some banners and showed Ryan how to tape them. I also cleaned and reclaimed and burned and taped. It was mostly solo, which I don't mind. We are on top of things when it comes to printing! We are not behind, we are good to go. And that is very good.

Akira at midnight! I spent my evening excited and looking forward to that. I worked on some Odd Owl drawings for a new shirt design. I should have that done by weekends end. So I worked on that and had some dinner.

Akira on the big screen was AMAZING! You could really just relish in the detail of the older animation and just how much labor went into it. The line was the longest I've ever seen for a Del Mar midnight showing, and nerds of all creeds were in attendance. I like nerds of all creeds, those are my kinds of nerd. Non exclusive nerd things. And the theater was really fully too! People came in droves for Akira, but granted it is an older film so most have never seen it on the big screen outside of showings like this. So awesome.

Oh, I saw the movie with Ryan, of course.

Saturday:

Slept a well deserved sleep in. And after breakfast and tea, I went and got myself a storage unit! Now I can start putting my stuff in storage. A good chunk of my stuff I can easily store away (clothes, jackets, very non essential for road trip items) and with them out of the way, I can sort through my stuff. It's good to pair down.

Dorothy is the manager of the rental place and she was really nice. And there are security cameras and it all seems nice and secure. I unloaded some of the stuff in my car. I still had my lock from when I put stuff into storage during my Portland moves, so it's good that that is getting used again. Harrah!

After that I met Ryan and Marina at the Art Bar at The Tannery. I got this noodle dish and some ginger soda. We chatted and drew. Rio and Adrian and Arlo, some kids from The Tannery, hung out with us as well (Ryan lives with Arlo, and Arlo's parents of course). Damn smart kids!

Hanging out with Ryan typically means seeing a movie, so we saw Under the Skin. Which was.... nightmare inducing. One of those slow movies without a lot of dialog, but it still carried a good amount of weight. Scarlett Johansson is a really amazing actress. She pulled off the subtlety in the role so well. But yeah, I think I'll have nightmares about this movie. Some of the scenes were just yeeeesh.

green food

Made a necklace. Though I need to get a better clasp for it. The magnetic ones I have are not reliably strong enough.

I also looked into a Straight Talk phone. Hard to tell what phone would work best, but all I need right now is reliable GPS for my trip. Not signing up for a contract is significantly cheaper per month, but I have to pay for the phone so now fancy freebie phones. But... cheaper is better!

Anyway. Had to go to WalMart to look into the phones. There is one in Marina, about 40 minutes south. It was a nice drive, though the road changes the number of lanes frequently. And I was behind this BMW who kept going fast then slow then fast then slow. I guess they were lost or looking for a turn or something. Still... why is it always BMW drivers that are the worst?

WalMart was harmless. Big, but not crowded. I got a charm and some beads to turn into a necklace. Like I said, I need a better clasp for it.

Work was cleaning screens, reclaiming screens, cleaning more and reclaiming more, and then coating. Also some burning and counting in of shirts and cutting of vinyl thingy.

Jeff made all four of us dinner! It started with him being all "you want vegetables?" and we three said yes to veggies. Then BAM kale and chicken, artichoke, avocado, and brussel sprouts cooked in this specific way that was so damn good. SHHHH don't tell mom I ate so healthy. She must never know.

"hey Ryan, can you collect honey?"

Did banners almost all day. Big 20 foot banner, a smaller 13 foot one... some in a variety of sizes. Lots of cutting down and taping. Almost ran out of grommets and banner tape! But didn't, so that is what is important.

It was a sunny day.

Oh and there was a swarm of bees hanging out at work. But in the back of the yard, away from people. We could hear them humming. Very cool. I'm not afraid of bees. They make local honey which continues to get rid of my allergies.

Got out of work late, and was tired so...I didn't do much.

I've been reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? on my kindle and I'm totally hooked! So fun. I love stories that are told through multiple points of view.

on the comp, like a pro

An awesome productive day! We got so much done, it was amazing. I showed up and one job was finishing. Another was ran off. Then another. I cut patch fabric, which was a first. Taped screens. Burned screens. Counted out banner rope. I even helped with the digital work! Another first! If I was planning on sticking around, I would ask for digital training on the film separation side of things. As is... I'll just work and work.

At home I had some chips and dip and took it easy. I worked on a digital map and travel list. Want to get a good sense of things to do and see, but I don't need to strictly plan it all out, ya know?

nice super hero butts

Whoooo! Saw Captain America. It really just proves that there needs to be a Black Widow movie. Had some great action scenes, and was pretty enjoyable. Worth seeing. I didn't see it in 3D.

I worked on my road trip plan a bit. Right now it starts Santa Cruz to Los Angeles through Las Vegas as fast as possible to Zion then Petrified Forest National Park then Albuquerque then Mesa Verde. From there? Hmmm. Not sure which states to visit headed East, and which ones to see going North to South and t'other way around. But yeah, got a start! What's in Oklahoma? Some places I'm just looking at the map and eyeballing the National Parks. Some I need to Google which cool museums are in which cities.

Work was pretty relaxing. Jeff & Ryan had been running the press for almost 4 hours when I arrived. They both like to start early. I come in, count shirts, do banners, tape screens, coat screens, burn screens. We run a smooth ship. I cleaned a bunch of screens at the end and got out at a reasonable hour. Hurray!

the clock has started

Saturday:

I had a pretty good rest, but not a full sleep in like I was expecting considering how tired I was on Friday. Did some laundry and had some breakfast. It was a beautiful day. I headed up north to hang out with Garth, totally neglecting the fact that I have to plan my exit from Santa Cruz. The main thing is getting a storage unit and packing stuff up.

Anyhoo. We got some beef dip sandwiches and watched this Dr. Seuss movie: The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. It's a live action Dr. Seuss-esque movie that apparently he has disowned as part of his career? It's weird, but also brilliant. It has some great choreography sequences.

Sunday:

My housemate Justin has been ill, and right now he is in the hospital. Hopefully he will get better!

Watched a silly kung fu movie and had some doughnuts. Another beautiful day! That's how I want it: rain during the week, sun on the weekend. I wonder if I'll get a sun tan on the road trip?

A nice weekend, but dang it went by fast! I need to get on the ball, only three weeks left. Countdown is happenin'! Tick tick tick!

jumbo

The rain gutter woke me up at 4am. It rattles. The downside of all this great rain.

Got up early for work. Hurray! Starting early to get a jump on things. And what a jump! 8 color back and it looked amazing, but it took three rotations to print, so it took a while. And 7 color front, and only two rotos, so that went faster! Ryan caught shirts during the start, so I worked on banners and prep. Then I stepped in to catch. I was so tired all through the day and just...well tired. Really needed a nap. But we got it done and it looked so damn good! It was an awesome day. Everyone was in good spirits, despite working so hard.

It's good to work hard for good work.

I took a little nap when I got home. Then I got a second wind. Wind enough to watch Hannibal. Now imma read and go to sleep properly.

11:06am edit:
I also added some art to my website: trilliantrillian.com when I realized I hadn't updated it in almost a year! Mostly sketches and a few illustrations.

a fairly mellow Thursday with good humor

Work is really busy now! So many jobs coming up! We have an 8 color front & back due tomorrow, so it'll probably be a very long day. I'm starting at 9:30 which is some clue.

Today was awesome though. Really the perfect mash of Jeff on the press, Ryan helping, Nick doing hats, and me doing the tertiary stuff. Finished jerseys. Counted in several jobs worth of shirts. We are implementing a new box labeling system, so that is neat. I like labels. I also tallied screens (again) and burned screens and generally helped out. I like being the helper/tidying third person. It's a nice blend of skills I can do and variety of tasks.

At home I had some potstickers and washed my towels and watched TV.

Time to go to bed! Work starts early, and hopefully I'll be out on time.

roachheads

Got up early and got to work early so that I could leave early to see the Mary Roach talk! Yay!

What a day! Boss was gone for the first 2/3s. I did hats, burned screens, printed hat transfers, and then did some banners, counted out shirts, started some jerseys. Boss got a new NEW hire: Jason. I think he'll be helping with vinyl application? Anyway. I did some jerseys then I coated screens.

A full day! And damn busy. Andrew stopped by for a bit to pick up some signs. Nick did hats. Ryan reclaimed. Lots of running about and trading jobs this way and that. Whew! So busy.

I changed at work into not-work clothes (well just my shirt and sweater) and headed downtown for the Mary Roach signing at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Oh it wasn't raining today. It was nice, though a bit chilly.

Anyway. Parked in the CVS parking lot because who cares about paying for parking and wandered the bookstore and made note of books to try samples of on my Kindle. I grabbed a seat nearer to the back of the set out chair ( because people had come early and grabbed spots). I was next to Melissa, a very nice couples counselor with the prettiest face I've seen in a while. And so friendly! We talked about travel and experiences and weighing the things a person has done versus their creative output. This guy who was seated in front of me looked so much like Stephen Mangan, and I even told him so. And when he looked him up he was like "that does look like me!"

Mary Roach was spectacular. Funny, blunt, no bashfulness. Just really sweet and smiley and anecdotal but also brilliant. Love her so much. And when I had my copy of Gulp signed, she knew where my name was from! And she signed a 42 in the book. She's so great. Absolutely wonderful.

sopping

Another soggy day. Good!

I got to work a bit early, and wasn't feeling too well all through the day. Just not firing on all barrels ya know? The job today was just so... argh complex. Several styles of shirts requiring color changes. And different inks based on what to print. And different sizes of shirts and stuff. Just a whole big pile of stuff. I showed Nick and Ryan how to do pole banners. I taped screens. I pressed hats.

At home I had some mac n cheese and then took a lengthy bath to relax.

Mary Roach is going to be at Book Shop Santa Cruz tomorrow! Yay! Gotta go to work early so I can get out early and see my girl Mary.

march ending

A full day with full rain! Hurray! Have I mentioned that California is experiencing a drought? Well it is.

I coated screens and showed Nick how to coat screens. He did a very good job! Nice and even. I also showed him how to work the heat transfer press a bit. And I taped screens and burned some later on in the day and caught a job and broke down the press. The day went surprisingly fast.

I held down the fort at home, then Jeff and I played the Marrying Mr. Darcy card game I Kickstarted. I lost! I was unable to marry Mr. Darcy. I ended up an old maid. Then popcorn was made and we three (+Tara) watched a bit of Big Trouble.

Nice to have a full day of work. We got lotsa stuff going on soon.

rain & shine & clouds

Saturday:

Slept in and had no idea how the weekend would turn out. Got a text from Nate inviting me to a coworker's Santa Cruz birthday shindig. I would know some of the people there, so not totally awkward. Nate wouldn't be there. So I just showed up with a six pack of beer and was like "hiiii everybody!". The party was for Marco, who I met about 2 years ago at a MachineZone function. Also there were Jai, Alan, and Garth, and a whole slew of other really nice people. There was BBQ and beer and good conversation about all sorts of things. There was a noise complaint at 7pm though, jeeze! So I joined in on a mini bar crawl (there was a designated driver, of course). We went downtown to Asti, Poet & Patriot, and 99 Bottles. Not the biggest of crawls, but fun! It was raining though, which is probably why the bars were so empty. I of course stopped drinking early in the crawl, because I was to drive home.

A nice night out.

Sunday:

After a muddled morning of stuff happening, I had some eggs benedict at Zachary's.

Then I hung about. Did a Trader Joe's run. It was a much nicer day with all the sunshine and stuff.

This weekend went by fast! I need another day.

the cutest cheese

Thursday:

Pretty standard day. We spent it running a job that took lots of set ups and changes. Like, oodles. But the set up went well, as did the printing so it's all good. After work I went to Target and picked up a road atlas! I'm carving out a time in the weekend to really work on road trip planning.

Rest of the evening passed calmly.

Friday:

Another good day at work. The orders are starting to speed up. Got a few repeats next week, so I burned a bunch of screens and reclaimed more to coat and get ready for other jobs. It'll be quick turn around on screens time soon. Busy busy busy! I also caught a job for a bit. They printed some vinyl bumperstickers and their drying stunk up the studio during the morning. They really should have printed them last.

The other Trillian and I had a funny exchange with Jarslberg Cheese on twitter:

at least no one else in this city that I know is named that

We got a new person at work! Nick! Guess they are preparing for my exit. Though Nick seems to be more in the realm of vinyl application. Maybe he'll be a dude that can be sent out on jobs, so that the Boss can stay here and get stuff done for our side. That'd work.

Printing on Nylon jerseys was a risky gambit, due to the potential for heat damage on the material, but it worked! Whooo! We ran a few jobs today, and the boxes are stacking high. People gotta come pick up their stuff!

It also rained a whole bunch! Proper rain, the kind that is good for Santa Cruz due to the drought.

At home I fried up some eggs and put them on toast. Mmm.

I'm feeling tired. Up too late last night.

nicey nice

Ended up being a shorter day. But I don't mind. Having extra time is nice. Lets my mind unwind.

I taped screens, I burned a few more, I counted in a few jobs. The sweatpants have been run for the order, so that is good. And half the shorts. Got some smaller jobs in the works, but it also looks like a few of the bigger ones.

At home, Tara and I watched the first episode of The 10th Kingdom. Justin and Jeff joined us and it was a nice little viewing party! Such a great miniseries.

Had tea and rice scramble thingy for dinner. Now I can't tell if I'm tired or wired. So I'll just watch some more stuff and then maybe read some stuff.

scrub the bad away

Didn't have to come in to work till noon - 1ish. Hurray! Had a scramble and tea and took my time. I went to Jiffy Lube and got my oil changed and my oil filter changed and my air filter changed (Dad, you said that should be changed, right? Well I got that changed). Whooo! My car seems to be running a bit better? But maybe that is just psychosomatic. Still, nice to check that off the list. I left my cell at home, so I missed the notification that I didn't have to come in to work at all...

...but the boss found stuff for me to do anyway! I reclaimed screens and burned a multi-screen job. Still a short day, but hours are hours!

When I got home, I decided it was nice to scrub the mildew off the bathroom walls. There is no fan, and only a small window, so it was getting spotty. I got the powerful cleaner. I turned on the fan. I put on my respirator. I put on gloves. I got to it. It was tricky because it was concentrated on the ceiling and high bits of the walls, so I had to use a stool for some bits and a chair for others. But I got it scrubbed. Did the walls first. Took a break. Did the ceiling. I didn't get it all entirely off, but it looks MUCH better. The bathroom looks so much less dingey now. Hurray for cleaning!

I had gyoza for dinner and other munchins. Watched Archer and House of Cards. Removed things from my todo list. Go me!

Della Fern at The Abbey in Santa Cruz

micron in moleskine

de la ferrrn

Saturday:

Set my alarm because I had paintings to do! Totally slacked on getting Nate's landscape done for him. And I also wanted to paint Helen a belated birthday gift. Have to keep up the square painting tradition! So I worked on those and had tea and oatmeal and got those done. The board game party for Nathan started at 6 and I left at just a bit after 5! Yay for timing.

Helen made some tasty spicy thick not-noodle Korean dish, and there was a veggie stew, and it was all very delicious! Carmen and Josh joined the party, as did Nate's coworker Garth. The first board game was Battlestar Galactica. It was very detailed and multifaceted. I was a secret cylon, but I wasn't subtle enough in my sabotage and was found out. Carmen's character executed mine. The humans almost lost. It was pretty close. Then we played Lost Cities, a game C & J brought. Very fun, and easier to get a hold of. I beat Garth by 5 points!! But we were both behind Nate & Helen and Carmen & Josh by a significant margin (they were in teams). Funny that the teams outperformed the solo people. Anyhoo.

Nate liked his Hufflepuff hat and the new Magic the Gathering cards I bought him, as well as the little landscape I painted.

I got back into Santa Cruz at 2am.

Sunday:

I woke up early and dozed in bed for a good long while. Then I had a three egg scramble and some tea and got my ducks in order for the day.

While the sun was out I went to Target and got yakult and soap, then Bed, Bath, and Beyond for compost bags, then Trader Joe's for next week's lunch supplementals. It was a nice day to walk outside.

At home I read a bit. 7:30ish I headed out because I heard that Echo and Maw were playing at The Abbey. I drove in circles on Mission street for a bit trying to find the venue, before parking and walking to try and find it. Walking worked! It was tucked down the street a little (I knew it was 300something, and I was parked on the 100 blocks). The venue (The Abbey) was attached to a church, and it was a nice coffee shop place. But the stage was ample and the seating was comfy. It wasn't like a little stage was shoved in where it shouldn't. Anyhoo. I got some tea and a little muffin and sat and waited. Then I noticed that I hadn't seen any members of Echo and Maw. Then the people that were fiddling with the instruments were decidedly NOT Echo and Maw. Ooops, not Echo and Maw! It turned out the band playing was Della Fern. An Australian band on tour. And they were pretty good! Half covers, half original music. Two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and lady vocalist. Didn't see Echo and Maw, but still saw a great band! I sketched and some people complimented what I had drawn. I'm sick of drawing guitars though. So difficult!

Nice to get out of the house.

Gotta get my oil changed.

zig zag division

Finally, after what feels like a year, saw The Grand Budapest Hotel! It was very Wes Andersony. But the way he films shows off the worlds he designs. Great sets and costumes and actors. Also dark, but his movies are often dark. Life Aquatic is still my number one.

Saw the movie with Ryan. We had a quick brewski at 99 Bottles before, then walked around a bit because the 9:15 was sold out. It was a nice night for walking. We tried to get other people to show up or the show, but no takers. Oh well.

Also made myself fancy for the night. Gotta dress up for a Wes Anderson film, ya know!

Work was all solo, so I put my tunes on and got stuff done. A few people picked up some things. I reorganized sweatshirts and shirts a bit. Then I reclaimed 24 screens (as much as the rack will hold). Then I counted out the sweatpants for an upcoming job. By the time I was done with that, the screens were fine to coat. I listened to Stuff You Missed in History, Stuff You Should Know, and Stuff Mom Never Told You. Yay for stuff!

A nice day. Gotta get some stuff done tomorrow, then it is game night!

getting behind in the list

Another full day! I had a sluggish start but I got ramped up as it went along. I weeded and heat pressed a few things. I caught. I burned. I coated. I cleaned. It was a lovely warm day. Spring is here! Hopefully we get spring showers. Boss is off the Vegas but there is still work to be done. Counting out type work. Sorting work. Cleaning and reclaiming work. Still. Good to do the work when there is the space to do it! The back table at work is almost entirely empty, which is awesome. So much room for work.

I also got to run a special work errand: dropping a package off at FedEx! Whoo! That was exciting. And I got there before the driver arrived, so it's on it's way tonight!

Annnnd I did nothing with my night. Oops! I'm behind on things. I've got... well tomorrow I wanna go out to the movies.

I'll get some stuff done. Gotta get it done.

clean sweep

I have 43,000 pageviews on this blog! Amazing! Though most of them are probably the same four people checking 10k times each over the years.

Work was better today. I caught and boxed a massive job. 15 boxes, and we aren't even to the sweat pants! I also reclaimed a bit, mixed some ink, burned and taped screens. A nice full shift.

I did three loads of laundry tonight! THREE! I washed my work shirts and bathroom hand towels (hot whites cycle) and my pants and work sweatshirts (hot darks cycle) and all the rest (cold delicate cycle for colored shirts and unmentionables). I ate some pasta for dinner and swept and vacuumed. So I got that done. Still need to tend to my car stuff and the mildew. But hey, I didn't do nothin'!

Now I wanna sit in bed and read. Really loving my kindle.

winner winner chicken dinner

Whoooo!! Yeah! I met up with Ryan at 99 Bottles for the Tuesday raffle night and out of four raffle tickets, I won THREE TIMES! I gave Ryan one of my Pilsner glasses. Ryan also won a glass (with the lion half of the Firestone Walker logo) which came with a shirt (a ladies medium, which he gave to me). Winners all around! We both had two pints and fish and chips and it was awesome. Good conversation. I bought a Doctor Who shirt offa Tee Fury for him because I knew he'd like the design, so more goodies. It was just the excellent superb night I needed. 

Work was really, really stressful. We got a lot done but... it was stressful. I'll leave it at that.

I'm wearing green, don't pinch me

Full day of work, whoo! Counted out a huge order of sweatshirts. There are some sweatpants to go with the order as well, but I ran out of room for them. Only so much room in the studio for things. I finished taping up screens. I burned some screens. I cleaned stuff. Caught a job. The weather was nice. I helped Jeff get hats into hoops for embroidery.

We got lotsa sweatshirts to print in the next few days! Big job! Whooo!

At home I made a grocery run and listed stuff I needa get done soon:

• oil change
• clean inside of car
• scrub mildew in bathroom
• sweep and vacuum downstairs
• paint painting for Nate's birthday

Had some gyoza for dinner. And some chips.

So very tired still from the busy fun weekend!

hootie and the trillfish

Friday:

Only had two tasks today at work: finish the jerseys and sort the work branded shirts. I came in early to get the jerseys done early. Weeding all the names for the heat transfers takes forever! But I got them done. It was just me in the studio. Kara was there for a bit, as was Jeff in embroidery. But it was just me in the main part.

Our work branded shirts needed a major organization overhaul. Plus they just needed to be refolded and sorted by size. We have so many XL tees. So I folded them all. And pulled all the old designs. And sorted the sizes and put the newly printed stuff on top. Took a lot of time. The sort of thing that is best done when no one else is in the studio so I could take up all the space and spread out. Ended up being a full days worth of work! And since I got in early, I was out early and had time to enjoy the lovely day!

So nice weather right now in Santa Cruz. SO nice. I accompanied Tara on a downtown errand and got some froyo for dinner. Then I watched Hannibal and other TV and went to bed early and slept in.

Saturday:

Odd Owl is playing at the El Rio tonight! I wasn't planning on going but since I can crash on the floor at Carmen and Josh's, I decided to go! But first: earlier in the day.

Slept in. Took a long shower due to the time it takes to wash my hair. Had some tea and creme cheese and celery. Walked down to the mall area and went to Ross and found a new pair of simple flats. My other simple flats are on their last steps. Then I went to Chipotle and got a burrito. It filled me right up! Yum. I'm glad I wasn't spoiled on burritos in my youth.

I got my cool clothes on and packed up my car for the night (bringing some reclaimed screens to Carmen). Swung by Trader Joe's and got some coconut water and used that purchase as an ATM for cashola for tonight (instead of going to an ATM and paying bucks to use the right and not getting anything in return). Had an easy drive up with minimal traffic. Sun was in my eyes though.

The Show:

I accompanied Carmen down to the El Rio and watched the stuff while she found parking. The El Rio has a narrow side venue and a back patio with lots of space. Nice place. This guy hit on me a little bit, but his American Psycho patch put me right off. I did a very good job of pacing my alcohol intake. Gold stars for me! I generally can pace myself the easiest with whiskey. Nothing hidden by mixers. Anyhoo!

The first band up was not a band, just the lady Katie Day. She played the guitar and the keyboards and did a cover of Remix to Ignition with backup dancers. She was lovely.

Adam, the drummer for Odd Owl, has a baby boy! Last time I saw Odd Owl, Vanessa wasn't pregnant. And now there is a baby. Time flies!

Odd Owl came on next and they were awesome as always. Got to hear a few of their newer songs, which I haven't heard live yet. Awesome. I was groovin' up near the front.

Ben, the drummer for Echo and Maw, called me Tricia McMillan. I told him we were instant friends because of that.

Echo and Maw were neat too! I bought their CD. They had a keytarist. They did a cover of Wrecking Ball and the audience sang along. Great crowd, lotsa energy.

I helped guard the equipment once again, and it was brought back to the space. We got back to the house at the wee early hour of 3am. Awesome.

Sunday:

Has a slow start. Drank lotsa water and had a bit of muffin. Watched Breaking Bad with Carmen and showered. Erin, Josh, Carmen, and I set out to find brunch. We drove through Golden Gate Park and saw the buffalo! The wait at the Beach Chalet brunch place was an hour! There was a line just to get your name on the list! So we opted out. Did I mention Erin is pregnant? Lots of pregnancies! Anyway. We found our way to Eats in the Inner Richmond area. A bit of a wait, but it's all good. A lovely day, but we were seated inside and in a place where a chill kept creeping over us. I had a bacon avocado tomato scramble and it was tasty. Not mind blowing but still good.

We coated a screen before we left, and we burned it when we got back, but it didn't wash out right so we coated a second screen to burn. That one washed out just fine, and it was set to dry. It was a later start than intended, but it's great to be in the City and hanging with people. The posters look so awesome! The colors look really slick and the teal/red one just POPS. Carmen noted that from the distance you see the ODD OWL text, but up close you see the owl lady. It's a nice dynamic. So we got the deluxe owl lady posters done, and then we did the drum head. Which required special fumey ink and holding the screen in place over the drum head and making sure it doesn't smudge and then quickly cleaning everything up with turpentine (well turpentino or some sort of alternative to turpentine). We did it in one and it looked AMAZING and then bam right into cleaning. We kept things well ventilated but still I feel like I'm missing parts of 8th grade from my memory. Oh well, it was just 8th grade.

But yeah, very successful printing!

9:30ish I headed south. Got home safe and sound and wow I am pooped. Time to sleep and then take on another week!

no one believes you are in California till you post In-N-Out. Fact.

Keep going to this tab and seeing that I haven't written anything and then I go to another tab and then return and STILL no blog. Guess I gotta write something.

Another beautiful sunny day in Santa Cruz! Still wearing shorts. I pressed jerseys and cut some large sorta banners down. Another short day.

I got the two gift exchanges I'm in mailed off. Socks & stickers. I think my socks one is marked as shipped, so that's fun. And my Harry Potter one, which I thought I got stilted on.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I bought the stamps! No Neville Longbottom though. Come on!

feelin' good

Wore shorts to work today! It's shorts week! Everyone was in shorts. Go team shorts.

I taped screens and burned screens and cut a banner and brought in some boxes of stuff. I also folded shirts and boxed them as Ryan stacked them. It was a hot day, but hey! I was in shorts! It didn't bother me.

And it ended up being a short day.

So yay for sun! I made some new paper cutouts for the kitchen window. I did snowflakes for the holidays and hearts for Valentine's Day. Now I have a row of grass with a few flowers.

I finished Gone Girl. Pretty damn good little mystery novel! Really enjoyed it. Neil Patrick Harris is playing the role of Desi, so that'll be great.

I downloaded a ton of book samples onto my Kindle, and bought The Goldfinch because that's been sitting on my to read list.

Now I shall retire to bed! Reading a bit before sleeping has really got me going to bed in better rhythm, and I've been sleeping pretty well recently too.

A lot of anxiety has lifted from my shoulders due to my decision to leave Santa Cruz and travel. I do worry about leaving my job and getting a new job in the future, but a person can't just work and work and live in a place they are unenthusiastic about. My spirit was suffering, and when the spirit suffers what can be done about that?

I'm wearing shorts right now. It's that warm.

Got up and got my crock pot cooking with sloppy joes! Didn't take that long to prep.

Had a really good day at work. It was warm and everyone was positive and we got stuff done. I heat pressed some jerseys and shorts (still waiting on some decals to be cut so I can finish them). Then I caught these patches. Now we are one forth of the way through a massive shirt order! Feels good to print a massive order. It was an early day. It was also a very HOT day.

Got home and stirred my sloppy joe. It was a bit wet. Could have put more meat in it, I think. Or less fluids. Tara made a salad. It was our night to cook for the house meeting. I was facilitating. The sloppy joes turned out a bit more... meat mush. Though I guess that is the point? Oh and I also made a pot of green tea for everyone to enjoy. It was refreshing.

The meeting went really well! Good chats and stuff.

Now I think I'll retire to bed. I'm almost done with Gone Girl!

ankle damage ???

I want Wednesday to get here because the that'll be a day with no errands or obligations. Tomorrow is a house meeting, so I'll be going straight from work to dinner making to meeting. I'll be putting some meat in the slow cooker before work, and Tara says she'll get home at 3 so she can give it some stirs. Going to make sloppy joes with turkey! Here's hoping they turn out. Mmmm.

Work was all right. We ran a repeat job, and a small order of a new job. I broke down the press. I weeded some stuff. I folded shirts. Got tons of heat stuff to do over the next few days. 17 jerseys and 17 shorts!

Tara and I are cooking for the pre house meeting dinner. I..oh I already mentioned the sloppy joes. WELL I went to Trader Joe's and got fixings and Francesca was working the register, so we got to chat a bit.

My ankle is really hurting me these past few days. Maybe too much crazy dancing on hard wood floors? Guess I'll take it easy for a bit.

busy bee weekend & big announcement

Friday:

Camping! I’m in the woods. Big Basin Redwood State Forest Place Thing. Yeah. So I’m writing now and will post this when I get to wifi…later.

Today started pretty well. Woke up to my body clock and relaxed in bed for a while. Got up and had tea and cereal. I itemized my to dos for the day: get gas and add air to tires. Get stickers for sticker gift exchange. Get socks for sock gift exchange. Look at maps. So I went down town, and oh what a lovely day! My room continues to be 10 degrees colder than the rest of Santa Cruz, so I could have gotten away with shorts. I got a Discretion Brewing sticker yesterday, and I picked up two Santa Cruz logo stickers for my exchange. They said they wanted something cool for their laptop, so I got them some options. The sock gift was harder to 100% fulfill. Got them some hippo socks, and they said they liked hippos. They didn’t have any puggle socks, or pumpkin ones. But they had dogs with cones and these fictional animals being abducted, so I figured they’d like them. I got myself some seagull & fries socks. Because duh.

I swung by the Buttery on the way home and got some cupcakes to share with Ma & Pa, as well as a cheese pocket for me and a baguette. Oh ho ho. Baguette. (that is to be read in a French accent).

Mellowed at home, then heard Ma and Pa had arrived at their campsite, so I packed up and headed out. Traffic was bad getting downtown, but I found parking. I got three sandwiches from Zoccoli’s: B.E.L.T., the New Yorker, and the Avocado sammich. Graham Hill Road was familiar, 9 was winding, and 263/264/whichever it was, was very long and winding and near empty. The type of road that makes you hope you are on the right road. I went through Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek and other little cluster towns that have a lot going on for about a quarter mile and then it gives away once again to woods.

I accidentally went down a road to Little Basin, which was a part of this State Park, but not the campground that Ma and Pa were at. But I was back on track soon enough, and as the sun was setting I delivered the sandwiches to campsite 48. Dad and I split the meat sandwiches. Both were very tasty. We sat by the fire and ate cupcakes, once our appetite swung towards sweet. Now we shall pick a movie or a game and relax. It’s good to be in an old familiar place (the motorhome) in a new place (Big Basin).

Saturday:

I stayed up reading Gone Girl. It's really sucked me in! I'm almost done. I felt like I slept in, in the morning. But really I was up at a good hour. Dad made pancakes. We drank tea and planned the day. 

Parking down near the trail heads was tough, but we found some tucked in the back. I got some postcards and a patch. Ma, Pa and I took a ranger guided trail and learned about the trees and stuff. Mom knew all the trees he asked about. Madrona. Douglas Fir. Good mom!

After the tour, Nate showed up! Yay for Nate! We took a bit of a hike in the woods. It was a lovely day to go hiking. No rain, warm, but not too hot. Perfect. Only a section of the trail was hiked, as Nate had some stuff to do later on in the day. We had lunch back at the MoHo. Baguette with cheese and spread, cupcake, and Nathan opened his presents from Ma and Pa! He got a cool mug that Dad previously set on fire. And some jelly cups. And a hiking towel thingy. And Ma and Pa brought down the cool lamps Pa made for Christmas, but were unable to fly.

Nate parted ways at around 3:30. We three finished off the bread and played a couple rounds of Blokus. I won the second game. I got some practice in setting up this tent that was brought down to me. Collecting gear for the road! I got out of there at 5ish. It was a nice ride back. Got some time to relax. Eat some food. Watch some TV and catch up on what I missed by being in the woods (not much). I got to the third part of Gone Girl!

I went to bed at a reasonable hour because I was getting up bright and early to go to San Francisco!

Sunday:

Up oh so early. Even earlier because of daylight savings time. I packed up my car with screens and stuff and swung by McDonald's for lazy breakfast and I was out on the road at a bit before 8 (7am body time). I've been getting some really good traffic lately. As in, not much traffic on the road when I go on the freeway. 

Today was a helping Odd Owl print day, and it ended up that next Sunday will also be that day. I don't mind. I like getting out and hanging out. And I'll get some groovy prints when all is said and done and printed. I got my tea on, and Phil came over to help. I started by coating my screen for later use. We did the first color on the two color deluxe , then the second color & single color shirts. They've got a pretty good set up going on. Lots of inks for lots of potential colors. Phil used the heat gun to do the discharge activation on the tees. Carmen pulled prints like a champ. We listened to The National. Josh made salmon for lunch. Erin & Steven were staying for a bit till it was time for them to move to North Carolina. I'll be sure to visit them, they are neat people. Also Erin's baby is due in July! Baby! Adam & Vanessa had their son Xol. Yay babies...well yay other people's babies.

After lunch I exposed the screen and set that to drying, and we printed more shirts. Some of the shirts came out really boss looking. Just... great! We moved on to paper printing, and the first layer went well but the second will need some adjusting, so we set it aside to do next weekend. Probably won't take long. I left SF at 7:20ish (I stuck around to eat pie and help them fold shirts). 12 hours from leaving to leaving.

♠♣♥♦

SO! I'm leaving Santa Cruz in May. Don't know when in May. Early or late, but May. I'm putting my stuff into storage and I'm hitting the road. Going across the country. Big goal would be every day. Drawing, driving, seeing, eating my way to new places and hopefully old friends.

Santa Cruz has been fun, but it isn't the end all be all for me. I put in notice at work and notice with my landlord and I've told enough people that now I have to do this. Can't get an idea and then shirk from it and be okay with that because I told no one. NOPE.

Annnnd that's my Friday!

Another three day weekend, which is awesome because Ma and Pa are going to be at a Redwoods Park tomorrow and I can go see them! Yay! And I have time to run some errands.

Caught shirts. Reclaimed. Cleaned. Taped. Burned. Coated. Same ol' thing.

Had some more pasta for dinner and tea and talked to Ma and Pa on the phone.

Watched telly. I'm at 53% with Gone Girl now!

crawlin' through the window cuz I left the lights on and locked the doors

Today was good! The weather picked up and it was warm (it's been a bit gray). Reclaimed some screens and later coated them. I counted out shirts, and all shirts were accounted for. I burned some screens and got them taped up. Caught the job. Then broke down the press and cleaned squeegees and floodbars. Nice smooth day.

I made a Target run for more shampoo & conditioner. My current ones are almost out and I don't want to continue with the brand. Also got some Volu-Tiramisu flavor Ben & Jerrys. So good. Tiramisu!

Made some pasta. Settled in for a night of 20 minute comedies (Broad City and Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Now to tuck into bed and read more Gone Girl! Almost to 50% now!!

back in blue

Made a mistake right at the start of the shift. Well it was a mistake I made a month ago but it caught up with me. BUT it ended up not costing us any time, and I got all my stuff done. So really, it wasn't so bad. It didn't prevent me from doing bigger tasks, as I was needed on the floor to do the tertiary prep.

When I came in, Ryan was loading towels on the press and Jeff was catching! Opposite world!

I stayed up last night reading Gone Girl. I'm about 43% of the way through now, and I was at 20% on the weekend. Kindles do it by percentage, not page. Probably because you can change the type scale, so pages are not so solid in Kindle world.

My lasagna is microwaving well. Jeff said it smelt good when I took it out of the microwave. He often compliments the good smellingness of my cooking, so that is nice.

Ryan and I counted out some shirts and sweatshirts. All sorts of things. We are running more work branded merch tomorrow, in a new neat design.

I bought a new MP3 player after work. The exact same brand and model was on clearance! Awesome! Well, it's blue. My old one was red. Still. Nice.

Had potstickers for dinner and set about rebuilding and piecing together my MP3 library.

so not a missus fix it

I broke my MP3 player. :(

It slipped off my belt loop when I was shimmying a bit too much, and it hit the floor in such a way that the internal battery was dislodged, which yanked one of the wires out. Specifically the wire that told the player it had a full battery. I can connect the player to my computer and see whats on it, but it doesn't know it has a full battery and it shuts off. I tried soldering the wire back, and I got it for a second, but then the solder broke and I think I melted parts that shouldn't have been melted. Two years good hard service. It's been bumped quite a bit. Time for a new one. I'll probably get the same kind, I'm pretty stoked on this brand. It's survived a lot of punishment. And since I can still access the old one, I'm not having to rebuild my old track list. Just have to plug the new player in and plop in the old tracks.

I tried to fix it. I failed. But hey, I tried.

Today was the first 9 to 5 day at work! And... I was told to come in at 10:30 because work isn't demanding enough right now and staggering schedules works better. I cleaned a lot. I reclaimed and coated screens. I burned stuff. I cleaned more stuff. We ran some towels. I burned some more things. A full day!

Had some potstickers. Tried to fix my player. Watched stuff. It is what it is.

puffed up & and yay for Steve McQueen

Slept way in. When I woke up I was just so comfy in bed. I had the thought of getting up early, but then I fell back asleep and that thought was gone.

Had several cuppa tea. Made and ate Mac N Cheese. Watched the Oscars. Lupita Nyong'o won, which was awesome! The In Memoriam was really sad this year.

Made a Trader Joe's run. The cashier really liked my Tomer Hanuka bag.

Then I watched Girls and the episode focused on her mother and aunts drama surrounding the death of her grandma and it just felt so familiar in many ways. Now I'm watching True Detective and eating some cheese puffs.

Just kidding!

I'm eating corn puffs.