that pitter patter on the roof is rain, not reindeer

Slept in. All though I woke up at 8am initially. Ma made sandwiches for breakfast. Well, for lunch. Breakfast for me. We played Bananagrams. Nathan played games. I played a little Braid. Then we watched the Top Gear Bolivia special (it is a very car Christmas). After we were all cleaned up, we went to pick up Rubie! Yay Rubie! Costco was unfortunately closed when we got there. We picked up some Taco Time for dinner. Mmm. Tacos, burritos, taco pizza. I helped Dad put on some new LED lights on the tree. And then it was hot tub time! Mom stayed to watch something. Pa, Rubie, Nate and I hopped in. Hot tubs are nice, even if it is raining. Tucked into bed early. Now just going to watch some movies till I nod off.

Then presents! We might spend the night at Pulali. Visit Celia!

PRESENTS! FAMILY! FOOD! CHRISTMAS!

hey you guuuys

Another day where I am up before noon. Whoo. Solved another crossword last night. Ma made delicious french toast for breakfast. I give it five stars. Loafed around for a bit. Watched the Top Gear special again with Nathan. Drank some tea. Nathan left to hang out with his friend. I put some makeup on mom. For fun. She looked rosy and pretty. But ma is a babe naturally. We walked to the end of the driveway. Got the mail. Mom made chicken, broccoli, and au gratin potatoes for dinner. We played Bananagrams. I won. Then Ma, Pa, and I watched Goonies. Great movie. So many great lines and moments in that movie. It never gets tired.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! EEEEEE!!

nate's here!

Yay, Nathan is on this side of the water for the holidays. Hurrah. Now we just need Rubie, though I think she is with her folks. And again, no hot tub! What gives?

Had a restless night sleep. I kept loosing blankets. I set my phone as an alarm and I did manage to get downstairs before noon. Okay two minutes before noon, but that is still a nice accomplishment. Dad made poached egg on toast with melted cheese. It was perfect. Stopped by the minibarn and spied in on what mom was working on. Showered. Ma and I braved the traffic and went into town for some shopping. Stopped by stores. Bought some stuff for people. It was slow going back. Lots of people blocking intersections. At least it wasn't raining.

When we got home ma made dinner. Ravioli and delicious salad and then I was too full for the risotto. Maybe tomorrow. Lots of ginger ale. We three watched the new episode of Top Gear. It was quite silly. Ma and pa watched Hair and I tooled around on the internet and then I heard a car door slam and Nathan was here!

We stayed up playing computer games. He showed me Braid, which was cool, and Osmos, which was neat. Fun games. He better not beat my Data Worm high score though. I'll be mighty peeved.

Don't know what we will get up to tomorrow. Games? Movies? Who knows.

feeling kinda weird

Slept in further. I set my alarm so I'll try to get moving before 1pm tomorrow. Maybe. I miss my comfy bed. This one is a bit stiff and I lost a lot of blankets. Mom scrambled me some eggs and toasted some muffins and even cooked bacon for me. Yum! What a good mum. Tooled around on the internet for a bit. Ma and Pa agreed to see the 4:30 showing of Tron. I showered. I just realized I haven't been in the hot tub yet since I got home! Weird! I'll amend that tomorrow. Dad came down from the garage and cleaned up. We got our seats in the theater right as the trailers started to roll. I'm excited for Green Hornet. Green Lantern, meh. Tron was good, but I think it could have had a little bit more grandness. The 3D effects were utilized well, but they could have shown more. The game and fight sequences were beautiful, but there were too few of them. It was a lot of CG sets and subtle things. It was good, but it wasn't the amazing oh my GOD thing that I was expecting. Still, I like it when movies utilize the medium of film, and Tron did that with our world not being in 3D and the Tron one being in 3D. I hope the technology sticks around.

Afterwards we went to Origami Sushi. Got a vegetable and shrimp platter with a caterpillar roll and a Philadelphia roll. mmm! Very good.

At home mom popped in Committed. It was cute. I started getting a headache and my stomach felt funky. Feeling better now that I've popped some advil and I have some tea.

I think Nathan comes over tomorrow. Christmas gets closer every day!

presents and presence

I was having a nightmare and thankfully my cellphone woke up me. Yay text messages! No one was around when I eventually got up. Made myself some cocoa and poured out some cheerios. Watched some stuff. Then I got to wrapping presents. Lots of presents. Yaay. Little things. Big things. With home made wrapping paper. Looks good under the tree. Dinner was pasta with white sauce and shrimp. Very delicious! Afterwards ma and I put our heads together and solved a crossword puzzle. That was nice. Ma went to bed. Dad snored. I stayed up but the special eclipse wasn't visible. Boo. Nice relaxing day. Really want to see Tron!!

flowers for julia

It is nice to head home. Set my alarm so that my clock would be started earlier in the day. Still took my sweet time getting up in the morning. Had a meager breakfast and some chicken tikka masala for lunch (courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen food isle). Did the dishes. Put away my laundry. Tidied up a smidge.

My suitcase was mostly filled with presents. I opted to pack light. A couple sweaters, five or so shirts, two pairs of pants. Normally I overpack. When I am going somewhere where there are left behind clothes for me to wear and a washer/dryer, I can pack lighter. It doesn't take me that long to pack. Though I still managed to forget my needle felting needles. Oh well. I have my crossword puzzle book at least! I only had my large purse (gift from Rubie) and back pack for carry on. Sweet. And Karen gave me a ride to the station.

Mark and Kristen got a larger fish tank. They are really into this fish thing. Fish, shrimp, a couple frogs.

It was starting to snow when Karen picked me up. More of a slush that wouldn't stick, but still it was coming from the sky. Got to the station. Hugged Karen. Got my ticket. Checked my bag. Sat down and worked on solving my crossword. Soon enough it was time to line up for seat assignments and before I knew it I had boarded. Got an aisle seat, but thats okay.

The person who sat next to me was a nice fellow named Alex. I complimented him on his Goorin Brothers hat and he said he worked there. We ended up talking for most of the ride. He helped me a little with my crossword (the first one I asked was about a Chicago radio guy, and Alex was from Chicago. What a quinky dink!). We chatted about art and writing and being positive. I drew him a picture of him holding flowers for him to give to his lady that he was meeting in Seattle. I worked on it slowly here and there. Building it up. I was quite happy with the final results. I hope his lady is as well. He paid me a piece of caramel for the drawing. I still pulled a piece off to share with him. It was so damn good. A perfect reward. I had a hot dog in the dining car.

It was a very nice ride, though a nap would have been nice. Made a new friend!

Ma was waiting for me. There wasn't a lot of people getting off at the stop and the luggage was brought out quick. We drove to SeaTac from Tacoma to pick up Dad at the airport. He flew in from Houston. There was a bit of a mixup. We were waiting by an escalator, and he was in the baggage claim. Neither were very far apart from one another. He just managed to go up a stair way that we were not watching. We drove the long way around, stopped for some drive through. It was rainy and then lightly snowy.

Yay! I'm home! Christmas is coming soon! Have to wrap my presents. But first. Sleep.

easiest twenty bucks I ever did make

I was riding to Roxy's and I saw a cell phone on the street, so I decided to stop and pick it up. It didn't have an obvious Mom or Dad listed, so I sent a text message to all the contacts. At Roxy's I got a bacon cheese burger. Very good. When I got home there was a response from a Jacob saying to call him, so I did. He was in the area so he swung by on my intersection and I gave him the phone (technically it belong to this fellow Rio, but Jacob works with Rio and it seemed a good call to give it to the guy who knows the guy, as opposed to waiting for the actual guy to borrow a phone to get in contact with me. It also looked like a work phone). He thanked me and gave me $20 for my "big heart" (his words). How neat is that? It wasn't that much effort, but I accepted. He offered to buy me a drink but I declined. Mainly because my burger was getting cold and I didn't feel like getting a drink, all though maybe I should have. Doesn't hurt to meet new people and Jacob looked interesting (wooly hat, glasses, floppy blonde hair).

Now I'm enjoying my burger and watching Sons of Anarchy. Good way to end the night.

Slept in. Didn't do much for most of the day. Watched TV. Didn't tidy. Karen asked me out to mini golf so I accepted. Knowing Lacey would be there was the clincher. At 6 I went to Trader Joe's, which acts as my ATM, because a 99 cent charge is cheaper than two bucks, and that 99 cents goes to candy instead of a company. And the sweet sticks were only 99 cents! Huzzah! Then I cruised down to black light pirate put put. An Escalade rode my tail all the way down, really irked me. She was so impatient. Then I turned off from them. Then I was lame and stopped in a bike box and didn't notice it was green. I was rightly honked at by the car behind me. I was the first to arrive, but I was a few minutes early.

Lacey and Karen showed up on the dot and Adam P (not Adam V) came by shortly after. I grabbed a white ball which under black light was a light blue, Lacey's was a dark blue, Karen's was orange and Adam's a different orange. I had a good start in the first half of the game. Well, I was very much behind but better than I usually seem to do. Adam was king. Lacey was queen. Karen was jack. I was jester. Still, putt putt is fun fun. Karen and I will probably get together over the break and hit up Kitsap putt putt.

We parted ways right after and I went to Powell's to see about more presents. I bought some stuff because I liked the covers and because sometimes, when it comes to giving presents, I am my mother's daughter. She knows what I mean. Hahah. After Powell's I went over to Rollyn's. This name keeps showing up in the blog. I don't wanna jinx things by putting info in my blog, but I do like hanging out with this fella. We just hung out for a little bit and watched some Christmas specials. A nice little visit. I was downtown so it was easy. Then I left and going up Clay or something I saw the phone. Picked it up. Went to Roxy's. Ordered a burger. Went home. Got the phone to the other person. And that was my day.

Tomorrow I WILL tidy. And pack. And go back to Seabeck. Yaay!

i like purdy mooovies

Glorious beautiful sleep. How I love it.

Lazed about all morning. Like a champ. Took out the trash. Showered. Sorted out my presents. Looked at my laundry and contemplated putting it away, but I didn't.

Ate some frozen stir fry. Been lazy with the cooking.

Went to Trader Joe's. They didn't have the seaweed that I favor so much.

Decided to catch the 7pm showing of The Tempest with Karen and to get some sushi before. Killed time till 6pm rolled around and she found parking. I got two hand rolls and some of the kind with shrimp on top. No cut up rolls. I gave Karen her present and we chatted about stuff. She is a good friend. We had a good conversation in the theater about more things.

I hate the trailer for Little Furniture. I don't need to see movies about rich people in their mid 20's having existential crisis. Uhhhg. But the trailer for The Illusionist was great. I can't wait to see that.

The Tempest, Julie Taymor's adaptation of the play was interesting...

The casting was great. Molina, Mirren, Winshaw, Hounsou...and some of the parts were mind bogglingly spell binding and the visuals and costumes were the right kind of modern influences. I'm not familiar with the play so I think a lot was lost on me. It was good but, as Karen said after, it will need some time to digest.

We parted ways with a hug and I went home and put my feet up. One more day in Portland and then I go home home home.

hitting hilariously close to home

fart jokes are acceptable at any age

Wednesday:

Final day of classes! Yeah! The years are just flying by now. Got up a bit early so I could get to school to try and render the video smaller and properly. The third render still wasn't so good. Talked to Anouk and learned how to render through quick time. Huzzah.

Critique lasted all class, but each one was 10 minutes and watching animations take up time. So it went fast. And I took notes because I knew I couldn't remember all we watched, no matter how awesome. And it went alphabetical, so Tibby, Zach, and I were shafted. Tibbs and I shared our pain about how teachers ALWAYS say they'll do reverse alphabet but they never do.

Tippi - hand drawn shifting animation about how the bull was revered because it looked like a uterus. Very beautiful.

Andrin - stop motion cars sliding about. He made it look like the cars were sliding left and right. He did a lot of cutting out of cars, because the shadows never changed. It was totally convincing too, totally didn't look cut out. It was great.

Alison - something really conceptual. not my cup of tea.

Chase - goddammit Chase, why you gotta be so awesome? A side scrolling animation with lots of loops and his beautiful photoshop techniques. My side scrolled as well, but totally different styles. Anyway, Chase's animation was awesome. Robots and stuff.

Amanda - cute love story but the music was insanely loud

I think this is when we broke for lunch. I rendered my video properly (meaning good quality but not a HUGE file). I felt like pizza, so I got pizza.

Emily - a stop motion tribute to Jan Svankmejer. Cute old lady. Excellent animation.

Hill - stop motion. Mostly him going in circles. It was really nice. The movements flowed really well. There was a lot of stuff that apparently didn't work out, but all in all it was nice.

Most of the animations were under a minute. Rose and Anouck wanted good animations, and wanted us to keep them short so that they were good. Not try to do too much. It was amazing. So much great work. They brought in bagels and shmear.

Jeff - stop motion shirt and pants and shoes moving that eventually ended with him in it. Titled "waking up" or something.

Jaime - an animated dog moving about. Sound could have been better. Obviously took a ton of drawing.

Kami - a stop motion doll Marjorie. Sort of referenced Amelie. Very nice and simple and silly but effective all the way through.

Matt - told a story through well executed walk cycles, animation, sound, and cuts. Simple yet excellent. Really got the movement down for it all.

Kelly - He did a longer animation about a tooth fairy. Lots of composites in AfterEffects. Obviously made with his daughter in mind. Lots of unicorns and fairies but also crude humor. Turned out he wasn't accepted as a Tooth Fairy, but a Toot Fairy. Hahaha. The final shot was a door and farting noises. Heheh. It was very well received.

Leah R - stop motion cork screw and other items. really well animated with lots of variation.

Mitch - hand drawn stuff. really created this mood. nice.

Malcolm - figure moving against something trying to burst through the door. good sense of weight.

Kebrina - animating what music looks like, in a way.

Petra - rotoscoped animation done using sharpie, but scanning the sharpie on the reverse of the paper. the bleed through, not the actual page with the marks.

TJ - stop motion bear looking for a suitcase. cute.

My critique went really well. Everyone enjoyed it. No major trifles about what I did. One person said that they would enjoy playing a side scrolling game of all the animations that utilized panning. Owls and astronauts zapping aliens. Hehehe. Hill commented that it was cool that I can go just by one name in my art. I commented that the alliteration in his name was cool.

Tibby - very tense minimal animation. I said that it reminded me of greeting cards that you give people for tragic moments "I'm sorry for your horrible disease" I think I said, which got a good laugh unintentionally. The graphic looked like it, but the sound and the subtle build up acted very counter to the art. It was good, though Tibby knows animation isn't her bag. Well she says that it isn't, I think she is better than she is giving herself credit for.

Oh, Rose also got us mini cupcakes! Awesome!

And finally Zack. Goddamn that kid, he went for it. Stop motion, exposing light sensitive plants to light and documenting that as animation, puppets, set design, 3D stuff...god that kid. He did so much and probably it was all that he worked on for the past five weeks. It blew us all away. The conversation that took place when his finished was:

"How did you do that?" asked Trillian.

"In two words," added Hill Hudson.

"Black. Magic." answered Matt in Zacks place.

It was really something spectacular, and for a 200 level final as well. That kid will do amazing things.

And class was over. We said our goodbyes and applauded a lot. We applauded after each video and then after each critique. So 40 rounds, plus a couple at the end for everyone. Yay applause!

I scanned some website sketches in for Advanced Illustration and wrote up a response to the web survey. Class started and we mostly just talked about websites a bit and looked at our portfolio books. Then we watched Ponyo! Just for fun. And ate snacks. Ponyo was cute, though I was a little disappointed by the end.

Then Dom and I went to Yur's and met up with Danny, Leo, and Beth. Illustration booth right next to a design booth. I had a beer and a shot and we chatted and drew and gabbed and it was nice. A perfect end to the semester. Hanging with the awesome people at the local faux dive.

Went home. Was tired. Went to sleep.

Thursday:

Slept in, as I rightly deserved. Showered. Had some toast. Ran some errands. Went to Fred Meyer for some more of that intense conditioner that my hair is addicted to. It feels so sooooft. Also got some mousse and nail polish and maple candy and orange juice and blistex for my chapping lips. Then went to 3 Monkeys to get some presents. And then ush-Lay for more estents-pray for oiled-spay amiliy-fay embers-may. Hehehe. I think I'm set on presents now. A good mix of handmade and bought.

Then I rode my bike down to downtown, got buzzed in, and dropped Margaret off at Rollyn's apartment. Then we walked down to Pioneer Place and caught a matinée of The Tourist. It actually was a lot cuter than I expected it to be. I wasn't expecting much but it delivered just enough. Won't be the worst movie to rent down the line. Wasn't as trick stunt or innuendo heavy. Depp was charming. I liked it well enough.

We got pizza and hung out at his place after. It wasn't a bad bike ride back either. As his place is blocks from my old one, it is familiar streets. Just cut straight down to Johnson and then up to 22nd and I'm home. Right angles are the best.

Bought my train ticket home. I return the 19th. Don't have major plans from now till then. Probably clean the place up a bit. Wrap presents...

Odd Owl - The Way Home

Odd Owl - The Way Home from Trillian Spencer on Vimeo.

Oregonado

Animation is done! Whoo! I need to figure out how to export it at high quality without it looking horrible. Because I tried putting it up on Vimeo but it doesn't look as good as it should.

Anyway. School time.

Apparently there was a tornado in Salem. Oregon tornado? What.

Dropped my bike in my studio right as the rain started. Class was in the computer lab. Martin brought us pie! Four kinds! Meringue, apple, berry, and pumpkin. I went for the meringue. We filled out course evaluations and watched a little video about marketing and being prepared for the future or something. The speaker was really boring and it was hard to be invested in what she was saying. And then we were cut loose!

I headed to the print lab to print some wrapping paper. Critique was happening in the Etching/Litho studio and silk screen was free free free. Hurray! People came and it got crowded, but never intolerable. I printed my design on many sheets of newsprint and Dom showed up and started printing his right as I finished up. I got to printing my ChrissyPressy prints. Lots of printing. Did it in one stretch. Dom also printed tons and Morgaine printed and they collaborated and Samala came in and got some tuteledge. It was a regular illustration back of the studio take over. Whoo! So from about noon to five thirty, it was print happy time. Just doesn't get better than that.

Then I realized I was hungry, and I was done printing, so I cleaned my screen and picked up my stuff and said adieu and went to Chipotle. Got a soda as well, just a little caffeine to get me through the next bit of the day.

Went to the library and got in the comfy chair. Ate half the burrito, then curled up and took a 30 rest. Listened to audio book. Then I hauled my butt to yoga. Which kicked my butt again. Lots of core work. Stuff that takes strength. And my legs were giving out. Still, I did it. Good for me, and good for my physicalness. And now yoga is done for 2010!

I hauled my tired, worn out lump of a body to 815G (or was it F? anyway: the illustration computer lab). I tooled around on the internet and then I got down to business and finished my video. Actually the whole AfterEffects project went really well. No major problems or difficulties. No sound not exporting. Nothing like that. Hurray! Escaped the lab before 10pm.

Talked to the cool crew a bit.

Oh Morgaine said I should talk about her more in my blog. Or something. Morgaine is an awesome artist. She produces so much work, and high caliber work too. It has stuck with me from the first drawing I saw of hers and she continues to soar. She has a great sense of color and the human body. Her thesis is about the body and how we represent ourselves. Should be great. Her website is: http://www.morgainefaye.com/

Went home and worked on putting my prints into frames. Finished my burrito. Queued up lots of Sons of Anarchy. Now it is late, I am very weary. One last day. Mmm.

wrapping it up

It is amazing how easy it is to forget how much time something consumes.

Mmm sleep. Last time I get to sleep in for the next two days. Waaah.

Had my standard breakfast (you guessed it: tea and oatmeal, can't be bothered to make a scramble). Cut up a piece of lasagna for lunch.

It was actually a warmer day. Just had my grey hoodie and leather jacket. No serious layers needed. Went to the library and spent about an hour and a half cutting and folding my zines. Each one took four folds and four cuts and a staple. So all that times a hundred means a lot of time spent listening to A Game of Thrones. I got right on it when it came to passing them out. Serenity, Dom, Justin, Jon....

There were sandwich fixings (PB&J) in the commons so I had one of those. Kristen locked herself out of the apartment so she came by school to get my keys. Hahah.

I then put together my CD for Proposal Documentation. I sort of half assed it though. We were not kept totally up to speed on what we were supposed to turn in. Ehh, if it is inadequate I can turn in better. But I think it is fine. How much fine tooth combing are they really going to do?

Went to studio. Met up with Dom. Photocopied. Emulsified screens. Worked on our wrapping paper. And then we realized that critique was happening in the studio in about 10 minutes. We asked to be informed when there would be a break and sat in wait in the computer lab. I colored some stuff in. Then Phil texted and off we went. Exposed and washed out one screen like a champ. The bulb is getting old so it took forever to burn the screens. We were about a minute too late and sat through Antonia's critique because we didn't want to interrupt. Though having two illustration majors looming in the background of a final printmaking critique can't be fun. We felt really bad about it. But what was done was done.

Worked on my animation a little more. I think I'm going to recolor some of the owls tomorrow. Just so they flow together a little more. Do some tweaking. So right now just have animation to finish and Advanced Illustration stuff (but no illustration specific stuff) and Christmas related stuff. I'm nearing the finish liiiine!

When I was riding home, a man on crutches with one leg crossed the street.

limit

Turns out 275 pulls is my max number in silk screen. Good to know.

Had a slow start. The type of "well I'm only doing two things, I'll put it off" thing. Had breakfast. Drew a picture. Wrote out the to do list. Stuffed a frozen meal in my purse with a bunch of other things. I rode first to the laundromat to get quarters for laundry. Then I went to Utrecht and bought some paper. The lab was packed so I went to the library. Photocopied my sketchbook. Cut the spreads up. Oh, in the store I had a revelation about my format. I kept thinking of folding the images in halves, completely forgot about the notion of thirds. So yeah, spent a lot of time planning out the new layout. And then I realized I had counted the number of spreads, not pages, so I had to do even more folding and layout. Took a lot longer than expected. Drew some other stuff for printing.

The studio was still full, but I put my stuff down and cut down paper and emulsified screens and exposed. Waiting for a table to open up. And it did! In an hour I printed one side of the screen, and in another side I printed the other side. 100 zines. 200 pulls. Ahhg. Listened to A Game of Thrones. I also worked a little on the other piece but after hours of printing and being on my feet, my body was done in. At 9:30pmish I went to the computer lab and tooled around on the animation. Got it up to speed and all that. Finally staggered home. Well stagger biked.

Put my feet up. Relieved my back. Did my laundry. Now I'm going to fold my laundry and pass out. Long day tomorrow. Longish. Wrapping paper, print, thesis CD documentation disc or something, folding zine, animation. I'll probably work on animation and zine and CD during the day and printing after five.

Can only print so much yeah....

frame up

Crawled out of bed to another rainy day. Oh well. Had my breakfast.

Bekka came over at 1:30. She was in Copenhagen for three months but couldn't stand the weather and came back, and now she works as a design assistant! Way cool! We gabbed for a few hours. Ate lasagna. It was a nice visit. Now that she is going to PSU and all that, we need to hang more. Bekka is cool cool cool.

Anyway, she left at 4 and Karen showed up for Ikea time! Treated her to meatballs in thanks for the ride. We gobbled them down, because well...meatballs are delicious! It wasn't a major Ikea trip. Didn't go through the showrooms. I picked up another towel and then went to the frames department. There was a 3 for 1.99 frame pack, but the edges were really cheap, and a simple 4 for .99 set with clips. Guess which ones I bought ten of? So yeah, giving away a bit of what I've giving for Christmas, but it won't be all that I give.

Then we went back. I chilled at home for a bit but then went to school to work on my animation. Color corrected some bits. Got it into the file. Took some tweaking but it is getting there, inch by inch. I'm not really feeling the little owl yet.

When it was nearing closing, Mel and I went to Yur's. I didn't have my wallet, but I've sat at Yur's without being checked (or ordering) before. This time they were all "no wallet, can't have you here". Boo. So I left and changed my mind and grabbed my wallet but when I got back, Mel had left. So I rode around a bit at night. It was a good night for it. A little damp, but quiet.

Then I snacked on food, planned out the next couple days, and watched The Terminator. I'm feeling tired, so I think I'll go to bed early. Get up. Draw. Get paper. Print. Animate. Go to bed. Monday is more printing (wrapping paper) and getting the proposal thesis CD stuff in order. I don't think I'll print my mailer just yet. I want to get it nice and squared away and awesome. Not somewhat decent. Tuesday is the final Professional Practices. Turn in stuff, chill. Then sketch stuff for Advanced Illustration, survey for Advanced...touch up animation and yoga. Then turn all that stuff in on Wednesday.

The thesis zine is giving me problems. Maybe I should just make it a poster. There are 11 7"x5 1/2" spreads.

oh god the fingernails

Karen passed on Ikea today because a part of her essay vanished and she had to dig through autosave to recover it. Oh well.

Finished my chili. Went to yoga. It was intense. Lots of deep stretches that really got me in a bind (ha). Just Diana, Fawn and myself. Pigeon. Mermaid. Cow face. King pigeon. It was good. Very good. I really felt it. Deep in the joints and muscles.

Afterwards I hobbled home, put my laundry in the basket, and then realized I didn't have enough change for laundry. Karen then contacted me to inform me of her victory over thesis paper recovery. She was really freaking out, so I said that if she picked me up, I'd treat her to some hot wings (within reason, not going to buy her 30 wings). So at around 7:30, Karen, BT, and Phil picked me up and we went out for wings! Hurray! Went to Fire on the Mountain. I got mild wings instead of the not spicy sweet BBQ. I ravished them. Karen and BT got tenders. Interesting choice.

On the way back I asked to be dropped off at Powell's. Some books for presents were too much, but I did get some things for some people. After Powell's, I wandered over to Fox Tower. There was a line and the late showings of Black Swan were selling out. Thankfully they added more. Rollyn arrived, we got our tickets (dutch), and bypassed the line for the 10:20 showing and got our pick of the seats for the 10:15 (which didn't have a noticeable line). Sweet.

Okay, Black Swan was intense. While Enter the Void was a slow exhausting burn, this was a too-afraid-to-bite-nails tense psychological masterpiece. Every moment was pregnant with tension and terror. Natalie Portman should just get that Oscar. She was magnificent. Brilliant movie. Acted with precision. Beautiful. But damn, I don't think I'll be able to watch it for a while. Too much fingernail related harm. And just general "I'm going to have a heart attack NOW" feelings. Very good. Very very good. Five sold out screenings I believe. Wonderful. Rollyn drove me home, and now I need to figure out my plan for tomorrow. Forgot I was going to hang out with Bekka. I can still hang and go to Ikea. I'll just get a later start on printing...not ideal but I need the frames for presents.

Thesis zine...wrapping paper. I can do that tomorrow. A long day in the studio. I'm fine with that. Once I get the frames, I can do that once finals are over. I have a few days to relax.

wellies & brellas

Sopping rainy day. Perfect to stay in. Except I had to go out eventually.

But first I caught up on sleep. Precious sleep. Oatmeal. Mmm. Did the dishes. Good old dishes. Tidied up a little bit. Thursday is my switch off responsibilities day. All though I did just make a list of what needs to get done. Thankfully no documentation discs or essays. I'm missing some thing I think...err I'll think of it.

Walked to Fred Meyer to get fixings for dinner. It was pouring rain, but I threw on some wellies and grabbed an umbrella. All was alright, all though I did step in some mighty big puddles. 21st was well flooded. Got fixings to make lasagna! Yay! A big hearty lasagna to eat all week.

Popped it into the oven, took out the trash and recycling. At 7ish Rollyn came over for dinner. Lasagna was perfect. Part of the agreement for dinner was to watch the new episode of Community. Which was brilliant. Claymation! And then after that we watched the classic Tampopo. Beautiful movie. Full of heart. And delicious ramen. And then Rollyn went home and I watched the new episode of Misfits and some Sons of Anarchy. Tomorrow we might go see Black Swan.

Yoga and Ikea. Also some drawing. and Skype. Saturday and Sunday are work days. Animation, printing...glorious work. OH YEAH I have to print the thesis zine!

in da lab, gettin' crunk on dat muybridge

Oh boy. Long day. Long day spent mostly doing one thing.

Got to class. Did the course evaluation forms. Then sat in 815B for hooour working on the animation. The computers started to crash so I took a break to get a burrito. But then I went back to work. Lots of drawing. Lots of scanning. Lots of editing. My brain got fried on it. But it is coming along and everyone has a positive reaction to it thus far. Finished the promo mailer for the mock up. It printed a little larger than it should. It will be a quick print job though. Just gotta get around to printing it. I suspect this Sunday I'll get up early and stay late in the print studio cranking stuff out.

Anyway, yeah, worked on animation. Rose and Anouck dug it at the progress meeting.

In class we looked at our promo pieces and talked about them. Postcards, business cars, all that jazz. Now we are getting into websites. So next semester we want to have our self promotion pretty well set up. I'll probably enlist Nathan's help with some web design.

It was a mild class. Got out at 9. Went home. Ate a salad. Ate some candy. Now I'm just chilling. Tomorrow I have some tidying up to do and a big plan for what I need to get done. Which is a lot. Friday I'm going to Ikea to get frames for prints for Christmas. So it won't just be in plastic. Hurray!

waddlin' owls

Final two weeks of school. They will be here and gone before I can blink, and I got a lot of art that needs doing, both for school and for personal stuff.

Got up. Showered. Dressed. Had a scramble. Left for school around 1 and scanned. Then I took those scans and edited them in photoshop. Then I took those files and worked on getting them into my animation. Then class started. It wasn't a major class. Just some feedback from the panels and overall discussion. Also got client lists. And some stuff to be thinking about. Next semester is getting a portfolio ready and preparation for pushing us out into the real world. Need to decide what I want to aim for and go and get it. I'm willing to move. The future will come faster than I expect it to. Mmm.

For the rest of class, I worked on animation. Getting that ready. The owl flying looks GREAT. Just need to get in the rest of the stuff. Like a little waddling owl. I have a plan now. Yup.

Sushi should not be followed up with cake. Doesn't sit as well as one would hope.

Yoga was good. Lots of stretches.

Walked and chatted with Karen a bit after. Went home. Had dinner. Raising Hope was hilarious. Especially the dirt cookies. Glee was okay.

Watched more Sons of Anarchy and worked on the promotional mailer for Advanced Illustration. I always forget how long simply inking something takes.

rest and work

Oh boy, a day to sleep in and relax. Haven't had one of these in...a week or so.

Anyway. Slept in. As I said. Then I got up and had some oatmeal and tea. And then did most of the dishes. It doesn't take much for them to pile up.

Showered. Had a salad. Then I watched my animation. I looked up some Muybridge. Carmen also sent me a great feedback email, so I have a little something to go from. I really wish the video was longer. It could be longer, but then it would be so much slower panning. Fifty seconds is enough. Just have to fill it. I'm stuck but not stuck.

Anyway, I drew an animation loop of an owl in flight and some background stuff to add. I think after I get it into the animation tomorrow and see what it looks like, I'll have more ideas. Watched Sons of Anarchy while drawing. I think I should have got more drawing done, but since it is so free form, accomplishing that is difficult.

Went to Trader Joe's. Got some frozen food and apples and seaweed snacks. I'm now addicted to those, instead of the mango. So delicious. Need to plop some rice on them one of these nights. I tried out the TJ's Shepard's pie for dinner. Very delicious, though it seems like it would be easy to make. Meat, veg, and mashed potatoes plopped together? How hard could it be...

I think I'll go to bed early, set the alarm, and be productive. Tuesday Mornings are good productive time frames. Plus I need to assess my finals and get a clearer idea of what is due across the board.