mochlahoma city (I'm sorry for that pun)

I am sitting in Coffee Slingers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I ordered a mocha. A regular mocha, no iced. It's foggy outside and a bit...Pacific Northwest in general climate. Actually the city reminds me a lot of Tacoma. Have I written up my theory on the familiarity of places?

My thinking (based on a podcast education and sciency tidbits) is that the brain only processes so much new visual input, so a lot of extraneous detail in the surroundings gets duplicated with previous input. Like if you see a big dark building in your periphery, the brain just draws from previous memories of big dark buildings instead of processing all the details fresh. So when you are somewhere really new it's like WOW all this new stuff it's all so DIFFERENT. But then once you've been there for a while, it stops being new input. But also when you are places that are sorta familiar, you are getting recycled data filling in the blanks, so Oklahoma City can feel like Tacoma just as parts of downtown San Jose feel like downtown Portland. It's an idea.

So yeah, Oklahoma City feels like Tacoma thus far.

I don't have much battery remaining. I was up late watching TV on my computer in my car at an I35 rest stop.

I wanted to check out Mondo Gallery before I left Austin, but it didn't open till noon. So I had a slow start. Caught up on internet stuff. The gallery was pretty neat. There is a Mike Mitchell portraiture exhibit up right now. Just nice, dynamic side portraits of Marvel characters.

After that I poured the ice water out of my cooler and hit the road. It was only 5-6 hours to Oklahoma City, but I didn't have anywhere to crash, so I opted to just stop at the last rest stop before OKC. So I took my time and listened to podcasts.

Texas has some REALLY nice rest stops. Like gym equipment, play ground, many covered areas, nice bathroom, full vending machines, interactive displays. Really nice full on rest stops.

But the instant I got to Oklahoma, the scenery improved ten fold. I don't know what happened, but over the border there suddenly were trees and hills and greenery, instead of vast expanses of... plains. Texas has that feeling of going on forever. Which is does. I spent four nights in Texas, and it was a lot of driving to get to Big Bend and Austin and then not so much driving to get out of Austin, but it was still all north on one interstate.

I passed by two car accidents and two flat tires on the way up. I don't know if that is an omen or just Texas.

Oh! And I was only honked at once in Texas, and for the same reason I get honked at everywhere (unwillingness to take a free right on a red) so whoo! No bad experiences in this state. Actually I had a lot of good experiences. Maybe because I went the National Park & hip city route, instead of.... Houston.

But yeah, Oklahoma City. Then Kansas and over to Missouri. Let's have some fun!

pink shoulders

Ohh it was a consistently beautiful day all day. Sun sun sun. And warm! I rolled up my pant legs and put on a tank top and set out. Put my check in my bank account. Rode my bike to the Tiffany Center and locked it up. Today we did our graduation walk practice. About 20 people didn't show...don't know if that will cause any repercussions for them. I'm in the second to last row between Chloe Steinhoff-Smith and Will Schneider-White. Alphabetical! It went pretty fast. The MFAs walk after us, but sit ahead of us.

It was a brilliant day, so Robin, Kristen, Tabitha, Leah, Mel and I went for food. The Thai place wasn't open at that time. So we went for Japanese food. I got a bento box. A big amount of food but it kept me going through the day. In fact I'm not even hungry how. Whee!

Robin and I walked to school. I locked my bike up and we went to the studios. I cleaned the table on which my posters rested, because it was a bit crummy. I had to also defend it a little, because an Ikea table in a studio show sort of stands out amid all these pedestals.

Hung with Heather and Daniel. Met Karen at Rogue, but didn't order. Mel joined us and we three went to Yur's and we sat with Jeremy and Paul. But didn't order anything. Just sat and chilled. Karen got her hair done and it looked so blonde and lovely.

Left for home and now I'm chilling out. Gotta get up early for a meeting with Martin and Kristin and then make chili for Yoshi and Paul's going away potluck/printer celebration. Ohh need to draw some portraits. And start packing. I can start packing while the chili cooks.

Todays Portrait Is: Felix Martin (Hot Chip).

so much got done and I am so very tired

Alarm went off at 8. I rolled out of bed at 9. My new phone has such great alarm settings. I'm done with my new alarm, it was kinda not effective anyway.

Ate scrambled eggs with diced onion and a cuppa tea. Then at 10:30ish I hauled my table down to the studios.

It was a beautiful day and it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Wasn't that painful of a lug and I had Hound of Baskervilles to listen to. Ran into Craig on the way there, chatted a bit. When I got to the studios, a couple people were setting up. I agreed to move my space from a much larger wall to a smaller one next to Kevin and across from Eva. Originally my table had its own wall to rest against and the posters had their own one, but now it is cozier. The straight line of posters wrap around the corner and the table sticks out. I wrote with sharpie on the table "feel free to take one (or some)". I want these posters to be distributed! Hopefully they will be popular at the show. Talked to Nathan a bit on the phone. I was out of there so much earlier than expected. Went to the studios and picked up my screens. Farewell studio, I shant print in you again. For the time being. Swung by the money office and paid my remaining fees. Then I trotted up back home with three screens. Got back at 1pm, which was swell. Gave me time to eat, write up an invoice for my work at the girls camp, and generally relax. My shoulders hurt a lot when I woke up but the pain subsided.

Then at 3:15, I set once once again for the 5+ mile trip to the Rock n Roll Girls Camp. It was warm and lovely. The bridge was up though, but thankfully it came down in a reasonable amount of time. I zoomed up Williams. The distance on Williams from Sacramento to Ainsworth(Allingsworth?) is the one that feels the longest. The straight shot that is mostly gradually uphill that you can't really gauge how far you have to go. Once you turn onto Vanouver it is only about 5 minutes. I got there at 4, perfect! I took down the tees, turned in the invoice so I could get paid (not just volunteer work!!), set up the space, filled the bucket. My helper was...ohh dang I've forgotten her name but she was awesome. We exchanged some cool stories and tricks and stuff.

There were only three bands today: Name, The Minions, and Semi Colon Capital D. The last band was the one who played during the Ladies Rock Camp, and they were so cool. We got into it a little bit late, but some of the bands were ready to go. Name was the first to start cutting out their design, followed by ;D (get it?) and lastly The Minions, who were the last to finish printing. But they had a really cool design, it just had some trouble printing (pressure issues). Name had to flood their screen before printing because the cut out contact paper was really close to the edge. Sometimes I didn't feel totally needed because the girls have done the camp before and knew how to do the stencil, but when it came to problem solving and just being an extra adult to help, my presence was needed. It was fun. I felt a lot more confidant this time around. Clean up took a while, but no hurry. I listened to Name play their song Song, and DAMN THOSE GIRLS ARE AWESOME. So good. I wish I was that awesome when I was a wee one.

Got my lovely check, which I will deposit tomorrow. At 7 I rode home, got home at 7:30. Hydrated. Ate food. Talked to mom. Watched Sherlock. Now I am exhausted so I think I'll go to bed at...WHAT THE, IT IS ELEVEN? That is so early...

Todays Portrait Is: Al Doyle (Hot Chip).

Tumblr is totally thesis

I'll make this quick, because I have to get back to paper writing.

Got up early. Hate that. In class we went over the sketches. Mine were not so impressive, but there were some cool things happening. I left my wallet at home so I biked home during lunch and grabbed it and then got a burrito. Sat in the sun and ate it. The rest of class was a work time. I didn't get that much work done though...

Went back home and worked on my paper for a few hours. Found out that Joan won't be collecting our papers till Saturday morning, so I have a bit of leeway in the deadline. Yay! Still will get it in Friday, but I don't have to get it spot on the 5pm dot. Which gives me time to do pesky editing and citations and stuff.

Went to yoga, because I gotta have my yoga. I was asked to demo the head stand, because I'm so good at them. Whee.

Went to the Illustration Juried Show, which I neglected to enter this year because I am lame.

Went to the Spirit Animal Show that I am in. Karen set it up really good and some people were really responding to my work. Actually a couple started talking about my fat cat print right next to me! BT, Mel, and Phil left for a bit to see the Pony Club show. I stuck around to chat with Karen but she started talking to a cute guy and I didn't really have anyone to talk with for a bit. Boo! Chicks before...well you know. Anyway. Mel, BT, and Phil returned. At around 9:30, I returned home and got back to my paper.

Can't wait for tomorrow to be finished! And then it is TWO WEEKS TILL THESIS OH MY GOD.

And tomorrow there will be Odd Owl!

Todays Portrait Is: Indira Varma.

journey to the east

Something happened with my alarm and it didn't go off like it ought. Still, I wasn't in bed too late. Got up. Showered. Had my usual breakfast. Then I decided I would go drop off my pieces, no matter how long the bike ride. The show is a Thing-A-Day type thing, but only for January. Not a 365 project. So I swung by school and photocopied my first months worth of Portraitoday. Then I headed down to Couch via 9th. Then down to Naito Parkway via Couch. Got onto Hawthrone Bridge off of Naito. But I took a weird turn off and got onto Clay, and then 7th. Turned left onto Harrison. Rode straight on Harrison, all though not totally straight because there was a large roundabout and a few square gardens to zig around. The Harrison Street neighborhood is quite nice. Eventually I got up the hill to 28th and found St. David's Episcopal Church. That was where the drop off was. I dropped my stuff off. Filled out a form. Then I sat and caught my breath and relaxed a bit from my very long multiple mile bike ride. Whew! After I felt relaxed enough to hop on the bike, I did.

I zoomed down Harrison, and went over to Hawthorne by 12th. Stopped at Burgerville and got some burgers and a soda. Yum! Then I went over the bridge. Swung by Pioneer Place Mall and picked up a cheap loop to put in my one piercing hole. Maybe I'll get the other one pierced one of these days. Third times the charm? Rode back home. Talked to mom for a bit.

Went to Trader Joe's. Got some apples and food stuffs. Salad! Tabitha and Kristen were getting their hair did by this lady tonight. Highlights and a cut (I think) for Kristen, new nice shade of blonde and a good cut for Tabitha. I sat in my room reading and drinking tea. Now I shall read some more. And then draw while watching Top Gear and Shameless and Episodes. But first, more reading.

Todays Portrait Is: Casey Hatfield.

Character Creation

Character Creation
A show by Bekka Hannesdottir and Trillian Spencer
Up for the month of November in the Charles Voorhies Fine Art Library in PNCA

illin'

I don't like being sick. Too much irregular eating has caught up to me and really weakened my body. This sucks.

Woke up with my alarm. Got the place cleaned up. Ate some oatmeal and orange juice. Called Bekka.

From around 2 to 10, we worked on art. We cut the paper, taped the paper, and drew drew drew! Our play list was: Idiocracy, Four Rooms, episode of Lie to Me (Tim Roth double feature), Chicago, and half of Repo: The Genetic Opera. We cranked our show out. Got 16 little painted pieces ready to be put up in the library. Go us! We got pizza for dinner. Mmm. So yeah, just painted all day. I felt continually bad.

Katie went out dressed as Dakota Block from Planet Terror. She looked really good. Got her hair done and everything.

Bekka left. Katie left. Now it is almost Midnight Halloween night and I am indoors and ill. It sucks. I'd like to go out and party but I don't have the energy or the health to do it. I'd rather be out having fun, but my better sense is keeping me home and miserable. Oh well. Next year.