1/3 of a year.

It was 8pm for what felt like forever, and all of a sudden it is 1am? Dang.

Today I worked a regular persons shift of 8 hours. Started with setting up screens to burn. Then I burned them. Part of the way through I did a palette change and cleaned the sleeve palettes. Then I resumed burning the rest of the screens. I coated the remaining screens as well. Now there are mucho screens to burn, which is good because there are several more things to burn come tomorrow.

After that I...oh I fired up the heater and set up the sleeve job and...there was something I think I did between those two though. I didn't clean squeegees or reclaim. Didn't tape screens. Hmmmn. We didn't get to printing till later on. AH oh well, it will come to me or it won't.

Caught some shirts, then did another palette change.

Listened to Clouds of Witness. Felt like some Wimsey.

Back home I did laundry. Awww yeah Thursday night. I'm working Sunday. Not sure what I'll do with my Saturday. I need to run some errands. I'm starting to get an at home screenprinting set up started, so I need to find the clamps and figure out what kinds of lights to use for exposing...among other things.

Remember Ma and Pa to bring my screens down when you visit! Also my zine library. My zine library is a plastic tub next to my bookshelves. Also that art case thingy we made is on top of it, bring that too.

My first day of work was June 13th. Been at it for four months now. Seems much longer. Maybe because it is so fast paced? Should figure out the date I moved to Santa Cruz. Yay for having a blog to keep track of these things.

screen queen

The milk chocolate covered toffee popcorn from Trader Joe's is quite tasty. Mmmm.

Another long day at work. When I got home, I sat down and had no intention of moving for a while.

I finished listening to Pyramids. I've now listened to so many Discworld books that I've lost touch with what is actually reality. They are good but tend to repeat a bit...time to move on to Snow Crash or Good Omens.

Cleaned all the squeegees and floodbars at the start. Then I coated some screens. Then I reclaimed a big stack of screens with the new and not busted pressure washer. The ones that were prepped for discharge ink and had been sitting for a whole took a looooot of pressure washing. But I got it done! And then I cleaned and burned some screens. And reclaimed a few more. And ended the day with one more final coating of screens. Used up all the emulsion and mixed up some more. I think there are about 30 more screens that will be burned, and all of those will need to be taped, though Stuart has been taping. A lot of jobs to be done! Hurray!

Nice to be pulling some long hours. Tiring, but nice.

soft skin but not in a good way

Work is wrecking my hands. Well, the skin on my hands. My digits have spent too much time in water, what with washing out screens and cleaning screens, and reclaiming screens. Too much prune fingers. My cuticles are a wreck. I don't want to wear gloves ALL the time.

Today was a busy day. Burned a stack of screens. Coated the screens from last night. Stuart brought his electric, but less powerful, pressure washer so I reclaimed some more screens which will be coatable tomorrow. Taped some screens. All this stuff takes a lot of time. I need to time myself, so I can give good estimates as to how long certain tasks take.

Finally went grocery shopping after work. Just got my staples. I need to make another enchilada casserole, so that I don't have to put a lot of effort into lunch making for a while. I think I've just become not sick of eating it from the last time I made it. HMmm.

Back at home, I put my feet up and had some pasta. Yum nums.

what a Monday

Uhhhgggg. God. Had one of those days at work. So I'm having a beer now. And will probably have a beer later. So I am blogging now.

The first chunk of my shift was spent weeding vinyl stickers. That was all right. I listened to John Finnemore's Souvenir Program and Pyramids. It is tedious work but at least I stay dry while doing it. Then came a couple screens to burn. That was all right. Have a rapid succession of big jobs coming in, so it should be a busy couple weeks, so that is good.

Then came the end of my shift. And it was time to reclaim (after spending the time cleaning the ink off the screens and prepping them). I made the mistake of getting all the screens nice and wet and goopy with ER-45 before really kicking the pressure washer into gear. It was on for all of 10 seconds before a hole burst in the hose. Heat had burned a hole in it, and there was no plugging it. Tape? Nope. Bike repair kit patch? Nope. We (bossman Chris & I) ended up wrapping a piece of aluminum in the patch and taping THAT to the hose and that, well it didn't repair it but it stopped it enough to keep it from showering the both of us. Though by that point, both of us were well and truly soaked. Oh and did I mention that the sun had gone down and we had the illumination from spot lights to go from? Because that was also happening. It was one of those stressful times that goes right past anger to hilarity. I'm quite pleased at how I was able to keep my head instead of crumbling in frustration. We ziptied the handle on the pressure washer (my idea), so that it was never accidentally released, which would put pressure into the hose and thus put more pressure on the patched leak. We managed to tandem reclaim the stack of screens in record awesome time.

I mean seriously. Dang. What a shift! I love my job because it is always changing. Better or for worse. Hahha.

So I returned home, popped open a bottle of beer, and jumped into some clean clothes. Now I am going to relax, watch some TV, and forget my worries. Tomorrow is another busy awesome day.

And I love it.

Shit, still need to buy groceries....ahhh I'll do that tomorrow.

is October halfway over already?

What a lovely Sunday! I slept in, which was nice. My body needed it, what with the wedding and the previous week of fighting illness. It was good to sleep in like that. I'll be going to sleep shortly.

I helped clean the house a bit, as Janet was having a big birthday shindig thing for her friend. Lots of people. I cleaned the floors and made sure all my dishes were out of the sink. They came over at 4ish, though I was upstairs being antisocial. Though I wanted to socialize, but I gave the company some space...and then some more space and then I had been up in my room for an hour and a half and by then I was like "ahhh jeeze, probably too late now." But I had plans to meet Ray for Looper and some after movie drinks, so that got me out of the house. Still, I met a couple of the guests and they were quite nice. Though some of the guest's kids gave me odd looks.

Looper was just as enjoyable the second time around. Such a great movie. I saw it at the Regal 2, which was tucked into a complex I've yet to explore, but is right next to Trader Joe's. There are lots of areas in this city I need to explore. We had drinks at The Poet. At the first dinner we had, it was someone's birthday, and yet again another familiar happy birthday song was rung out. Fun how that goes. There was a pub quiz going on and the questions were quite tricky. The teams were already established by the time we arrived, so we just listened in.

It was a nice night. The weather last week was gray and Pacific Northwesty, but it went back to calm California.

Had a very nice Sunday night. Now I shall climb into bed. Another awesome week starts! I need to make a to do list.

Yay for Jenn & Steve!

Jenn & Steve. October 13th, 2012. Yaaay!

Did not enjoy getting up early, but did it I did! And I found my camera, hurray! Put on my fancy dress, did my makeup and my hair, though my hair didn't quite work out in the long run. Ah, oh well. I still looked nice. Though it isn't about me, it is about Jenn and Steve! But here is a picture of me anyway:

Lookit those roots! My natural hair color sure is coming in quite obvious. Got some wine for the shindig and then up I drove to Woodland. I took no wrong exits, paid one toll, and got caught in no traffic. So despite leaving a bit later than I'd have liked to, I still arrived with plenty of time to spare. The wedding was at this little house, and the shindig itself was all outside. Lawn set up, lawn ceremony. It was a potluck food thing, and it all came together quite nicely. I made acquaintances with Benjamin & Amy and Gillian (who made Jenn's dress) & Henry. We played bocce and bean bag toss and croquet. That was fun (they had it set up). Ate lots of food. Had a couple glasses of wine. Celebrated my friends and their love. All that good stuff.

My leg hurts from all the driving, but I got back all right. Ah what a day! It was beautiful too. Warm and sunny. Not a Washington October, that is for sure!

And my calendar is now pretty open in terms of engagements and things to do. Hmmm. Oh, have a bunch of drawing to do. Yeah. Personal projects.

good and dark and acted oh so well, just how I like it

Noooo! I can't find my camera! I last had it in Kings Canyon, but I never used it. Did I leave it on the desk top? No, I'm pretty sure I double checked for everything. I barely used it, and I think it remained in my bag. I must have just set it somewhere I can't recall. I'll look for it come morning. My dress is laid out, got my tights. The weather is supposed to be warm, so maybe I'll bring the tights but not wear them unless it gets cold? It is a just under 3 hour drive to Jenn & Steve's wedding tomorrow. It is at 1, and I'll leave at 9:30. That seems good? I won't be going through San Francisco, just through San Jose. I have Pyramids to listen to (the next Discworld book) so that is something.

Today I set up the job right when I got in, ran it, set up the next one, ran that. Sure the boss looked and okayed my work, but all was well. Ran the shirts on another job as well. Getting a really fast loading time. Booyah! And weeded some tricky vinyl. And did some cleaning. Got out at 5, so a little bit earlier.

Steve and I had the standard dinner and a movie plans. Sort of my go to thing. We met at Santa Cruz diner and each had half of what we ordered and half the other. Bacon, avocado, and Jack omelette (aka the California) and banana walnut waffle. Sounds like a good dinner to me. The movie was Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths and it was different from the trailer, but in a good way. Funny, dark, and the actors were great. Sam Rockwell is very underrated, and was quality in this role.

Got an early start tomorrow. Should be lovely. Hope I can find my camera. If not...oh well! I'm sure I'll show up in other people's photos.

'illian('s)

It was rainy again! Santa Cruz has become the Pacific Northwest! Noooo! It was so warm last week. Ah, oh well. Just have to wear a sweater. Though it clicked at work why I get more ink on me. I'm shorter/smaller than my coworker and boss, and so to navigate the equipment I have to get closer to it and reach around and all that fun stuff. I get closer to it all, and thus get more ink on me. I just don't have the reach. Could improve my dexterity though.

Put emulsion on some screens, some of which I patched before. Burned a couple screens. Broke down the press. Stuart taped screens. Ran a couple jobs. Two color, pretty easy. Gave the bossman some apple juice, which he liked. Everyone likes Seabeck Apple Juice. I should design a label for it.

Back at home, I was quite happy to put on some warmer clothes. Then I went to Lillian's to meet Ray, another of those online acquired fellows. Lillian's is an Italian restaurant and it was pretty good. I had the risotto. The chicken was a bit dry. Ray, he is a business major at UCSC, and was pretty nice. After dinner and dessert we walked down and back on Seabright, because it ended up being a clear night.

My fingernails and nailbeds look horrible. Ink encrusted and chemical affected.

Man. Almost 1? How did that happen!

take that body, you ain't getting sick on my watch!

Feeling better today, though I was still congested and snuffly. Though considerably less so from yesterday. It was actually rainy and gray today! Damp and cold! It was nice to hear the drops on the roof.

At work I burned some screens, but did not tape them. We ran the front and backs of one job, sorted some shirts, I reclaimed the screens that were waiting to be reclaimed. I suspect first thing tomorrow I shall apply emulsion to them. A nice long shift. It was gray but not raining when I was reclaiming (I do this task outside). At least I have the company sweatshirt to wear now. Sort of wish I had work pants, but my legs don't really get that cold.

Back at home I bundled up, ate some pasta (I eat almost the same thing day in day out, it's easy to not get bored of ones food if you don't pay attention to eating it), watched Sons of Anarchy, which was hilarious, and Sakamichi no Apollon, which was okay. Not as good as Cowboy Bebop.

Got some busyness happening these next couple days. I'll keep you posted. Because, well, what else am I gunna do?

illness? oh no you won't get me!

My nose was runny all damn day. Didn't really feel ill, so there is that. But something could be just around the corner...going to go to bed early. Give my body plenty of time to rest up and recover from whatever it is that it thinks it has. I haven't been properly sick in five years, and I'm not going to let my body break that record!

I got a work branded hoodie. Boss said I was welcome to more apparel if I wanted it. Booyah! Though I'm fine with a few shirts and a hoodie...for now.

Spent a good chunk of the work shift mixing ink by eye. That was....difficult and frustrating. But we got it in the end! And printed some sleeves. And cleaned some surfaces.

Got home late. Had some pasta. Bundled up and got all warm.

not A not B then C or I don't understand this game at all

Uhg, I'm really congested and I don't know why. Blergh.

Worked a pretty easy shift, and started near Noon. Not a bad way to have a Monday. Burned some screens, taped those screens, and cleaned some squeegees and screens. Listened to Spoon and Wyrd Sisters.

Back at home, I put on not work clothes and went to game night at Woodstock's. Yay for pizza and beer! A winning combination. Played Saboteur and then Pandemic (which was great) and Ergo (which was impossible to understand). Three and a half hours of game play just about! Afterwards I did a grocery run and returned home and put my feet up.

Don't have any obligations till the 13th. Pretty good.

Still don't understand the congestion.

telly and tumblr

Ahhh a day spent doing nothing of consequence. How lovely. Got up around 10. Had breakfast. Got caught up on the Internet. Well, spent all day doing that. And caught up on television. Had the house to myself so it was all quite quiet. Neglected to go grocery shopping. I'll do that tomorrow.

Elementary, CBS's modern take on the Sherlock Holmes stories with Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, is quite cute. Lots of chemistry between the two of them. I dig it. Watched Downton Abbey. I'd rather watch it with Mom, but that will have to wait a month and a half. I suspect time will pass all too quickly.

October is already a week over and it feels like it just started. Blimey.

Work tomorrow! Yay! I start somewhere between 11 and noon, so that is nice.

bears? pfft give me something new!

I just caught a case of the woozies. Too much travel, too much irregular sleep. I am back in Santa Cruz and ready for a nice lay down I reckon. Today was very much the full one.

I got up after Ma and Pa but before Nate and Helen. I had breakfast with Ma, though she had already had hers. Then we three returned to the restaurant with N & H for their breakfast. I drew some portraits in my sketchbook while they ate their breakfast. Helen is quite nice. I like her.

Ma checked out of the cabins and we went to the visitors center and watched the video again. I got the Sequoia National Park WPA inspired postcard. I collect them from the parks I visit. I should get some Ikea frames to put them in. I think some of the standard size Ikea frames fit the postcard sizes...?

Anyway. The day started with the Grant Tree. Got a refresher in how massive these trees are. They are indeed massive. And then we climbed Moro Rock again. Which was tough on my gams, but it was again a spectacular view and well worth the climb. A bit more crowded this time, what with it being Saturday and not Thursday (or whatever day we first went up the rock). Still, no where near Yosemite crowded. We had a snack afterwards. Then we went wandering along the paths around Crescent Meadows. There were many unmarked Y's and several viewpoints that went without a plaque, so we took no notice of them. We saw many burned trees to Ma's chagrin. Nate took many excellent photos. He is better with the camera than I am. I can admit that. When we made it back to the car after our meandering U journey, we drove on to Sherman. The biggest tree in the world! It was much the same as the first time we saw it. Got some better photos though. Then we headed out to Lodgepole. I got another stamp for my notebook and we had our daily ice cream break. And some bears wandered by. More bears! Wow!

We finished the day with a partial trek up to Buena Vista Point. It was another beautiful view of both sides of the ridge, and a great photo opportunity. Tomorrow I'll upload some photos for y'all to enjoy. Right now I'm tired.

Nate and Helen brought me back to Santa Cruz. We stopped and got In N Out in Fresno. Mmm burgers. Love burgers. We listened to music and a bit of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. Got back at 11, which isn't that bad of a time. Everything seems all right in the house. Now time to tuck into bed. I have a lot of relaxing and catching up to do tomorrow.

What a wonderful vacation.

October Fifth

Today was the least busy day thus far. I had a French Toast breakfast. After breakfast we went to Lake Hume, which is in the National Forest but not the National Park. The only thing that really separated it from being part of the park was that the path contained  a lot more litter and there was more private houses around. We took the several mile hike around the lake, which was nice. Partially dirt, partially paved. We had our obligatory ice cream break at this Christian Camp that was on the lake. Yum yum.

Back in the car, we drove down some of the other roads but came to private property, so we went back to the cabin for a respite. Ma and I showered and watched Downton Abbey. Dad napped. We took another hike up to Panoramic Point, and continued on the Fire Ridge trail. There were a couple deer on the side of the road. Back at the cabin we had a light dinner of rice cakes and crème cheese and wine and other assorted edibles. We watched Horatio Hornblower while waiting for Nathan and Helen to arrive.

The pair arrived at about 10:30 and all was well. Now for a day filled with adventure! And driving back to Santa Cruz

bears and badges

Typical Thursday. Climbed a rock. Saw some bears. Got sworn in as a ranger. Ate some candy. Whateverrr.

The showers here are nothing great. Most certainly not hot enough. At a bit after 10 we headed into the park to have some fun. I found a National Park shirt that I liked. I’m going to cut the collar out of it and turn it into a tank top, because I like the back design more than the front. Reverse it. We started out with the General Sherman Tree walk. Now that is a big tree. Thick and tall. Not the tallest, but certainly the biggest in terms of mass. It was a nice walk down and around. From there we went to the Giant Forest Museum, and got a Junior Ranger Packet to fill out. I completed the 13+ section (24 years old certainly counts as 13+) as we walked along the Giant Forest Loop. Saw some good trees. Identified some more trees. Back at the Museum we listened to the Ranger talk and afterwards I turned in my packet and got sworn in as a Junior Ranger! Yaaay! I even got a badge. How cool is that?

At the 4 oclockish time we went to Moro Rock. It was 400 steps up to the top of this rock. Thankfully there were plenty of rails. It was a nice walk, though we went quite high up. A well winded walk up. There were monks in Saffron robes up at the top. It was a dynamic pretty view. Probably my favorite trek of the trip thus far.

We squeezed in a just under 2 mile walk to Tharp’s Log after that. The Log was a cabin that was built around a fallen log. Pretty neat dwelling. On the way back I heard some rustling in the woods, so I stopped Ma and Pa. And out in the woods not too far from us was a mama bear and her cub. Very cute. We sang to make her aware of us and off she went into the meadow.

An hours drive back, it is time for dinner! What a full day. I should sleep well I reckon.

waders and walkers

Mom and Dad both go up in the night and made the biggest racket opening the door and whispering to one another. Thought they were being quiet but they were not at all. We ate breakfast at the restaurant. Mom opted out, I had bacon, eggs, toast, and hash. It was pretty good. Kept me sustained for the day.

We stopped by the visitor center and I got a patch with a quail and my usual WPA postcard. I should put those in frames. Little Ikea ones.

There were some nice big sequoias, but we were not allowed to get close and hug them.

And then we drove into Kings Canyon. The national park is divided into two sections. It is a pretty nice decent. Nice and warm.

At 12:30 we stopped at Boyden Cavern and took the 1pm tour of said caverns. They were pretty nice. Shasta Caverns had greater variety, but it is just neat to be inside rocks like that.

We drove on through. We stopped at Grizzly Falls for lunch. We went to a meadow and dad took a different way back, and ended up having  to wade through the river. I got photographic evidence.

Ma and Pa took an ice cream break and I napped in the car. I was pretty tired, and I don’t know why. Back at the cabin, we finished watching Avengers (we started watching it last night). Thus far we haven’t taken any major hikes. Maybe that will change tomorrow. I also haven't sat down and done any proper drawing. Hmmm./

omelette starters

We have arrived at Kings Canyon National Monument State Park Sequoia…place. Errr Sequoia & Kinds Canyon National Parks. We have rented a three bed cabin, because Nate and Helen will be joining us on the weekend. We shall hike and have fun. Yup.

Ma and Pa arrived at my place at 10ish. We had brunch at the Santa Cruz Diner. It was DELICIOUS. I had the Capitola omelette, which has ham, cheese, and bacon. Dad had the Monterey which was avocado and mushroom. Mom had waffles and some of dad’s omelette. It was all scrumptious. After that we went to the Mystery Spot to see what the mystery was. And it was a weird place of strange gravitational pulls. There was a guided tour of the place, with lots of optical illusion demos. Quite fun! And we got bumperstickers afterwards. I don’t know what I’ll stick mine on. Hmm.

From there, we gassed up the car and off we went to the canyon place thingy! We had an ice cream stop, and a quesadilla stop, and the heat got over 100. Quite toasty, but generally nice. Some great scenery was beheld. I took a couple mini naps and was awoken when Ma and Pa bickered about directions. They made it up to me with ice cream. I’m easily won over like that.

Got to the park at a bit after 6, got our cabin. Now we shall get something to eat, and maybe enjoy some vino afterwards with some television. That is what I call camping!

work and work and grumpers

My internet wouldn't connect for a while this morning, so I didn't find out till later in the afternoon that a redraw of the face was in order. So I spent the day drawing and drawing and inking and scanning and all that jazz. It left me quite stressed and hungry and grumpy by the time I met Ma and Pa at their hotel. We are going camping! Well, cabining. We leave tomorrow, but they came into Santa Cruz tonight. We ate at Ideal Seafood, but it wasn't all that good. The clams were chewy, and the burger was just a burger. Ah, oh well. I have a bland palette, so I can eat just about anything and not grumble.

Afterwards, we walked back to my place with my bowl and jade plant (which has grown so big!) and I showed them my house, and drove them back. Now I'm relaxing. The new drawing wasn't quite improved, so it's going to be edited on the client end of things, though it will be my work that is edited around a bit, so that is fine. If I weren't camping, I could draw some more. But I am, so I shant. Ah oh well.

I'll have my computer, there should be wifi? If not...well I'll be writing up my adventures, so maybe you'll get a big post on Saturday of my times and adventures.

yay! art!

Going to rest on the sketch. I think it looks good but I am also a bit tired. Have to give it the morning gander. Be all refreshed and stuff. And daylight helps.

Slept in. That was nice. Really, really nice. Had breakfast. Watched Doctor Who. Cried during Doctor Who. Chatted with people (online). Worked on art. Snacked on snacks.

Tomorrow I shall do more art. Well. I'll finish this. And it will be awesome...hopefully. Nah. It will be.

loops and knots

Looper was a fantastic sci-fi movie. So well done. Well shot, great actors, just all around excellent. I was giddy leaving the theater with how good it is. Had dark humor in the right spots. A well realized future without going over the top with explanations. The characters were many shades of good and bad, and it wasn't just one good guy versus one bad guy. Layered. All that good stuff. Really excellent.

I met Steve for Pho before the movie, up in San Jose. There was an accident on 17, but going in the other way. I felt bad for the miles and miles of slow moving people. It just went on and on till I turned onto 280.

Work was good. Got the job set up, ran it. Boss and Andrew were off doing other things, so I cleaned squeegees and floodbars and listened to Wyrd Sisters. Pretty good day.

I'm on another wee vacation. Looking forward to some rest and some seeing of the parents and some seeing of the sequoias. That'll be nice.