cheesesteak & trilltrill

Ahhh glorious sleep.

Took it easy during the morning and early afternoon. Set out to do some shopping. Namely for unmentionables. I was either going to get cheap top unmentionables and some bottom unmentionables, or a really nice top unmentionable. Unfortunately the lady gave me a properly fitted and extremely nice top unmentionable, so I ended up going with that option. It is really nice, and supports so well.

Anyway. Picked up some mac and cheese for the pulled pork potluck at Karen's tonight. The pulled pork sandwiches were the main attraction. She was nice and picked me up for the shindig.

Jay, Tabitha, BT, Gabby, Hollie, Evan, Ursula, Agnes, Phil, and the glorious being that is Cidney were there. Cidney stops by in Portland every six months or so. Cool cat.

There were chips and beer and smoothies and the pulled pork was beyond delicious. Soooo good. I didn't stuff myself, I was perfectly fed. Sat with people and chatted about stuff. When there were just seven of us, we posed for a reference picture for Ursula. I really enjoy these "get out of the house and relax" nights. Now the rest of my weekend is to be occupied with screen printing and resume updating and portfolio sorting outing.

Anyway, after food and the leaving of most of the people, we played Munchkin. Gabby won with some help (namely my divine intervention which made her force win). She left. Phil, BT, Karen, and I played a round of Carcassonne. Phil and I tied for second, BT won. Then we laid about for a while and talked about nick names and Phil's roll of being the new Alpha Male print student.

Time came too soon to leave. Now more sleep. Doctor Who. Drawing. Then printing!

poster layers

Saturday:

A really do nothing day. Katie was out and about so I was in the apartment alone. Sat on the balcony a bit. Brilliant sunny day. Karen came over a little after six. We had a beer and chatted. Phil came over at around 8 and we all played a few quick rounds of Munchkin. Amazing how the rules came flooding back. Next came Halo. And Star Wars. Katie came home. The night wore long and I just went to bed instead of blogging.

Sunday:

Tidied apartment. Watched a lot of Six Feet Under. At least 7 episodes. Breaking Bad is back and the episode was a great season starter. Exciting, resolved some stuff, brought up promises of a great new season. And I sat and worked on my poster. It is amazing how this:

takes almost four hours to do. Maybe more. I wasn't keeping track. Ages to draw the font to scale within an 11x17 section. A careful hand to outline. An even carefuller hand to fill in the spaces with ink. The L is totally too heavy and I'm not sure about the W. The lines are uneven, but an organically drawn type will look a lot better printed than one I found on the Internet and blown up. But yeah, took a long long time. Compared to this:
Which took about an hour to draw the body and I'm only about an hour into working. The figure will overlap the text in a two color poster print. I think it will have a cool effect. I'll be adding a lot of linework in her dress, legs, and hair, but there will be no flat blacks. Even the lines around the figure are not fully filled in. It is a lot of fun and I can't wait to start printing it. I think I'll start that process on Tuesday. Hopefully print one layer each day.

My drawing set up is a drawing board that sort of rests in the nook between my desk drawer and the top, and balanced against my waist. I reach over the board to get ink, or fiddle with my computer. My chair is not a good height for me. I oh so wish I had space for a proper drawing desk, but I so rarely work big.


myspace.com/oddowl

missus clean

I clean house today! Sanitized the sinks and the toilet and the bathtub. Scrubbed the stuff off. Yeah. Cleaned the mold off my windowsill with a strong course of disinfectant. Put my scattered clothes away. Did a load of dishes and put them away. Cleaned counters. Put more stuff away. Got the apartment and my room in a less cluttered and insane state. It looks nice.

Gabe made shrimp and crab cakes on angel hair pasta and pesto sauce. Very delicious. So delicious. Giving Auntie Brynne a run for her money.

Munchkin is getting back on its feet! Robin was out but Amanda is in. We played Super Munchkin. It was fun at time but we got distracted for most of it. Diana had Katamari Damacy on her iPhone so Adam was distracted. Phil won. Or Amanda won. I didn't win. Karen gave us some awesome owl prints. Whee! Owl print!

Whee apartment that smells like clean.

a little day

Outlined and knocked off a chunk of my comic script. Not the best but still a nice amount of progress. It is good to know just what I will be doing with this chapter. Also that Mamet book is helping.

I didn't really do much today. Slept in. Ate chocolate and noodles.

Munchkin is in the process of being reinstated. At 8:30 I migrated to Robin and Diana's. Chelsey and Kristen joined us tonight. Whoo. And Amanda. We sat about and chatted for a while. Then we moved up to Karen's and Diana and Phil joined us. We explained the game as best we could and it went pretty well. Kristen came close to winning and I was going to win but Amanda transferred the monster to Phil and he won unexpectedly. Natalie also stopped by and we all told jokes and played "would you rather".

The night simmered down and eventually it was just Phil, Karen and I talking about Harry Potter and movies and creating epics.

Not a busy day but Fridays are sort of a relaxation day. Getting over the week and all that. Yeah.

grubby little hands

Had a lovely breakfast of tea and pop tart and salad. Played Professor Layton while watching Alien. Good movie. Awesome on the projector. I love how my schedule doesn't start at 8am any day so when the weekend comes around I am not wiped out.

At around 4:30 I left to get the paper to print. I didn't dress that warm but the ride was quick. I ran into Junko at Utrect. I bought four sheets of overpriced paper. 16 bucks just for one crummy little edition. Outrageous! At least I don't have to pay for the ink and tools. The class was still hogging the space in the print studio so I chilled in the library for a while.

I grabbed a spot at the glass table in the Center Studio. Rainbow was there. I inquired a few riddles. Robin and Karen started doing some screen printing as well. I rolled up the ink, I prepared my station, and little by little I got advice on what I was doing wrong. Robin advised me about the ink spreading. Rainbow about the roller. Karen, well I forget what Karen advised maybe she didn't say anything. Both Rainbow and Robin encouraged me to use more pressure. Oh wait, Karen did as well. Robin also went, "ahh!!" and surprised me as I was laying the paper onto my block to print it. It was a frustrating time. Some of the prints came out really well actually. The block looks nice. It was a lot better once I switched to the press. The blacks were much more black. I like my print but I felt self conscious doing it around all the other more experienced printers.

My hands have the crud of ink on them. Whoo!

I swung by Trader Joe's to stock up on breadstuffs, pasta stuffs, and chili stuffs. Cheap food that could spread out a lot easier. I got some raisin cinnamon bread especially for the use of toasting.

Katie was making something for Dinner but I didn't have a share of it. I just had beef chili with bread. Then 9pm rolled around and it was time for Munchkin!

Poppy, Robin's sister, was over so we were teaching her how to play. The table was crowded with tea cups. We played Munchkin Impossible and only to 6 levels so Poppy could get a quick understanding. Adam won because he was fighting something that gave him 2 levels and we didn't notice. During the second game Karen and Diana left to do rounds. A couple of us snuck some extra levels because they were gone so long and we figured they wouldn't notice. Karen only caught on to Phil's mysterious nine levels. Adam was sitting back in his chair and I touched his arm and he fell over. It was funny. Adam has a bruise from being kicked in the head at his Ninja Fight Club that he goes to. I brought over my lollipop vase and shared the wealth. Karen won the second game by a lovely majority.

Phil was going to come over to watch Pan's Labyrinth after but hes allergic to cats and Katie was sleeping so we decided to call it a night.


The new hair looks great. The layers really bring out the curly nature of my hair. It is a wonderful update.

day and a fourth

The metal bleachers hurt my bum. Stupid, affordable seating. I dressed too lightly for the kind of weather that was happening, namely snow. Bloody snow! Nothing worth sticking but still snow. I met Jason and Joe on the Max. They were on the blue and we coordinated so they wouldn't have to get off and meet me. Jason had about four layers on, I had three and no scarf and thin jeans. It wasn't so bad but it wasn't that great either. We switched to the Yellow and rode it all the way to the last stop. I've only gone to the last stop on the Red before (for the airport). The Expo Center is huge! There were like, three events going on. It took us a while to find the Rose City Rollers. Well not a while but when we found them, it was fairly obvious.

It was great to see such a turn out. There were 8 bleachers around a flat, temporary rink (it was some sort of large, constructed rubber mat). They all filled up. We sat on the high part so we could get a good view of the whole thing. Our little trio was there about 45 minutes early. The show started with an awesome drum line and then two annoying announcers came out and gabbed. The teams were introduced and each member went out and posed. There was The Guns N' Rollas, the Heartless Heathers, The High Rollers, and the Break Neck Betties. I was rooting for the Heartless Heathers because their outfits were not showy and they looked serious. Roller Derby is where girls on skates go in circles and one person gets points by overtaking the other teams skaters after getting ahead of them and getting back around. There is a lot of shoving and pushing and falling and about 6 referees are needed. All the girls had pretty amazing toned legs and a few had awesome outfits. A fun thing about Derby is that all the girls come up with puns for their names. My favorites were Wreck Deckard and J.K. Rolling. The first bout was between The Break Neck Betties and Guns N' Rollas. It was close but GNR came out on top. They had a really good strategy. The points can get racked up fairly quick in Roller Derby. Heartless Heathers beat the High Rollers by nearly double in their bout. They were near 100 by the end of the half hour period.

Halftime had a not really all that good musical act. I was too busy waiting in line for the bathroom to pay much attention. A lady came by and directed the line to a secret ladies room father down the hall. No waiting! Hurrah! After that, Jason and I shared a lemonade slushie that had almost too much sugar for me. Chilly drink, chilly hall, chilly Trill, oh well!

The next two bouts were first the losers vs the losers and then the winners vs the winners. Break Neck Betties lost to the High Rollers by a larger margin. Near the end you could really tell how exhausted the players were. They just were not going as fast or being able to overtake one another. The Heartless Heathers won again by almost double again. They really slayed GNR. I rooted for them and they did it. Whoo! Roller Derby is fun but my attention would drift. It didn't change up enough that it was gripping for all two hours of it. At 9:30, we numbly staggered towards the yellow line. It was waiting there for us and we grabbed some seats. It became really crowded as its departure time loomed. We rode it to Pioneer Place and switched to the other train. A quick hug and a peck on the cheek was exchanged and I waved goodbye to Jason and Joe as they scooted off to Beaverton.

Katie and her friend Patty were watching Santa's Slay. I huddled up in my room doing other things for a while but I cam out when they put on The Hunger, a sort of Vampire movie from the 80's which stars David Bowie. It had nice direction but I was so tired that it went right over my head. Still, I watched it all and then went to bed.

Today I slept in! Big surprise!

I put on Dead Ringers and worked on the initial layout sketches for my first woodblock. It is going to be one of those pieces that several things collect together to make another shape. I am having several animals form to make a face. My face as it is for a self portrait assignment. Now I need to collect references and do a proper version. I also wrote out some ideas for my comic. Dead Ringers was WEIRD. It was good and it was a good psychological thriller but it left me feeling very disturbed. Jeremy Irons plays twin genius infertility doctors and their lives fall apart and they both go crazy. It was weird but well constructed. The madness descent was very balanced.

I finally finished watching A Very Long Engagement. Jean-Pierre Jeunet rocks.

I ate a gigantic dinner and then went over to Robin and Diana's for Munchkin and then I found out that they were preparing a dinner for all of us. I had a small little taco but that was all I could really manage. I was so totally stuffed. Beyond that really. But it is good to eat eat eat because some days I don't eat as much as I should. We played Munchkin Bites at first and it was fun but then we started exchanging riddles and word games and things and it fell apart. I left earlier than others. I wasn't feeling too good. Might have been the excess of food.

Tomorrow is the first day of my new Illustration Studio. New teacher. I heard that the class might be technique focused. Hmmn.

Initial thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Spencer. Thank you for the wonderful card, I promise I did not spend my birthday money all at once (I think I have some left even). Averie also sent me a card, that was awesome. Dad's fine wooden bowl is containing balloons right now and I am wearing the awesome Singapore shirt.

everyone's a critic (except llyw)

Another round of Christmas cheer. Another round of struggling in and out of our driveway, which has to be the only driveway in the region that is still horrible. Another day of picking up Rubie.

We started off by visiting Grandma in her cozy little home. She has been moved to a home so that people can take proper care of her. It is more like a private residence and it surely isn't an old folks home where no one cares. We sat about and gave her gifts and talked. She keeps moving and moving and moving. Even if we don't have much to talk about, she is still gracious and kind.

The five of us arrived at Pulali after Jeanette & co. There was Jeanette, Liam, Caleb, and Llyw and later Dorothy and Dan came as well.

I got started with my portrait gifts with a picture of Liam. He said he looked like a girl. The eyes were a little disturbing and I fubbed the jaw but people seemed to dig it. I was only able to portrait Liam, Llyw, Celia, Ben, and Averie. I think I was having an off day or something because I was largely unsatisfied with the portraits. People dug them but I could have done better (or been better prepared with my gifts this year).

Brynne, Dan, Averie, and Ben were there. Brynne made heaps of delicious cookies. I received cookies and an awesome cookbook from Brynne, a magnificent cutting board and a cheese slicer from Averie, a sweetie sampler from Jeanette, and Super Munchkin and Meiji from Llyw.

A large group of us struggled with the Munchkin board game rules and eventually gave up when I opened Super Munchkin. We played that instead. Three fourths of the way through, the Stengels went home so Rubie took over for Caleb and Averie took Llyw's spot. We all got to level 9 and it was the Caleb/Rubie character that won outright. Super Munchkin is a fun deck but it has some of the same follies as Munchkin Fu in that it has many ways to make your character powerful and awesome but not so many monsters or ways to block an opponent from winning.

Liam loved his hat (one of the few bought gifts that I had). He ran about. A lot. But he is a wee one, they do that.

The day got dark fast and it seemed really really early when we eventually went home. The house was freezing so I quickly climbed into bed. Dad, Nate, Rubie and I bundled up and watched the first hour of Dark Knight. It was over when mom came out and yelled at us.

one mans trash is a trillian's treasure

Duuuudes and duuuudettes, I found a most awesome thing in the trash room! A stop sign! And it is attached to some wood. It is like a stop sign from a swinging gate or something. I guess a person didn't want it when they were moving out so it is mine now. I made an effort to take it to Karen's to make a grand entrance with it. It is more cumbersome than heavy. Hurray!

Science Friction dealt with what defines scifi, if the art is bad or just dated, and some other stuff. Nicole lead the class for a little bit. We didn't get too deep into the story but regarded it more as a vertex between many different mediums. We got out early because we had to do a teacher evaluation. I said that Trevor is awesome and that was that.

Illustration was great for the first part and sucky for the second. My Madoka Kinoshita forgery went down really well (some said it was the best executed forgery and that they thought it was just another book on the artist and not my piece next to a sample). I remembered to bring Madeline's artist book but forgot the Illustration Now book that Alex referenced. Alex couldn't find an example of his artist because he neglected to write down the exact name of the person (Tavish). The class has really dropped in numbers. Oh well. Marilyn's forgery was very smooth and sweet but still had her humor, Dominic used some lovely flipside blending, Madeline's Hajime Yoshio was neat and tidy, and April's Banksy was a Llama. The only one Chad didn't deem successful was Josh's but we all jumped it an he changed his opinion.

Our assignment was to do a sorta conceptual Illustration based on an excerpt from something overheard. I didn't quite get it (should have read it closer I guess)and did a portrait of Jon while he was eating lunch and talking about his housemates. I tried something new and some new textures and stuff but it wasn't quite right. It looks good but not..quite there. Some of the Illustrations produced were really beautiful and experimental.

One week left.

The rain was quite torrential.

Ate spaghetti and considered my work. I have Saturday and Sunday off so I shall be cranking this out! Yeah!

Diana showed us (Karen and I)her fashion puppet robot. It is awesome.

Phil, Robin, Karen, Diana, Phil's friend Chris, and I all made Shrinky Dinks! You draw on this plastic stuff and you put it in the oven and it shrinks and it becomes hard and solid and the image that you made goes really small. It is good for things like earrings or pendants. We were experimenting. I should consider a shrinky dink comic. Yeah!

While Phil won Munchkin, we were all at level 9 so it was close. With my bonuses, I was at an impressive 32 or something. I had boots and leggings and a shiny cheese grater and an angry wizard hireling, and all this other stuff. I made a good play of keeping other people from winning for a while but in the end, Phil won.

Chris had one of those laptops that you can draw and click straight on the screen. I drew in a program. It was super fun.

ode to things slimy

Science Friction just barely scratched the surface of Watchmen. I said that we all own it, not just DC or Moore. I brought oatmeal and ate it. The school has a hot water dispenser so hurrah for mush!

In Illustration we talked about what thesis we saw and our ideas for our future. I talked a lot, maybe because I was tired and didn't have a censor. We broke for lunch early and Robin and I got some Yo's. We lounged in the library. Katie and I exchanged quick hellos.

Carson Ellis came into class to talk to us and show her work. She is really cool and super skilled and all famous and well known. Hurrah! Also very much red headed. Our assignment was to draw a forgery. It isn't due till next class so I might redo it. I tried to forge Kent Williams but we had to do it in something opposite our style so I might redo it. Oh I just said that. Err yea. I also sketched, inked, and lightly colored a drawing of Dominic and Sivonna sitting next to each other. They both really dug it so I photocopied it for them. I'm pleased with it as well, they both have great hair to draw.

I left a little early and rushed home to catch the office before it closed. I got my packaged at like, 4:58. Yeah for teeshirts! They look great and fit me perfectly. I'm wearing my Octadecapus teeshirt now.

Did my laundry. The towels didn't fit and I did them by hand. They are going to take forever to dry.

Did some quick little articulated figures to give to the Munchkin crew. Also handed out a stack of comics to Adam and Phil. They all loved my little moving images of them. Robin had a rotating tea arm, Adam had an arm to put around Karen, Karen had two arms, Phil had a high-fiving arm, Diana had a hand holding arm, and I also had a hand holding arm. Everyone was all "awww that's so sweet!" and I got hugs.

Diana won Munchkin via the Divine Intervention card which gave her a winnable level. I had a pretty awesome character which included, but was not limited to, a fire breathing, farting, flying war horse and a divine stepladder. I drew out characters and then drew Robin smoking and looking sultry.

I have the snuffles. I think I caught a chill last night from not having a proper amount of pajamas on.

Tomorrow I am going with Robin to house sit and work work work! I'll be away from the distractions of my apartment so that should be good. Also there is a button quest at noon with Karen. Hurray!

winner

Saw a man in a yellow jacket but he didn't cycle through the max, thank heavens for that! First I sweeped up the store and wiped the mirrors. Paula asked why I was so nervous around her. I ran around the store finding stuff for this dudes exchange. No Gap cards. Even though we were busy I was still let off after only three hours of work due to poor sales. Saying we need 5 Gap Cards and five thousand in sales just seems to be expecting so much from people. Demanding more and more and more. But hey, business is business.

Got some sheets of watercolor paper and ink on the way home. I'm all set for finals now. Did a quick little drawing and gave it to Karen. Then she and I went to Diana and Robin's and chilled. Robin is working on a great painting. She gave us ornaments as gifts. How lovely! And then we started playing Munchkin. This game has gotten serious for us. We all know the rules now. Also, as for the second game, I WON!!! Finally. And it took several hard earned rounds to win it fair and square without people letting up. I did it! Yay! The third game went to 2 am and Adam joined it. He won I think, well Robin sorta won. It was a long night. I was expecting to do anything.

3:10 to Yuma has so many notable actors in it beyond Bale and Crowe.

It is Advent Calendar time!

Mom Makes Magnificet Meat

Climbed into bed and then I remembered that I had totally forgot to write! Oops!

I was up way before everyone arrived and managed to put away the dishes, watch the new episode of House, wash some more dishes, and get everything in general order for the day.

The turkey took four hours and while waiting we played a game of Munchkin. I almost won but Nathan succeeded. Mom was willing to let me win but that isn't so much fun when you know it is going down. Dad made us some scrambled eggs and cheese. Mmm! After Munchkin we sat about and read and talked. I worked on my puppet and did a few prelimiary casts. It works! Sort of! Still needs some fine tuning and practice but in general I think this system will work for the structure of it.

We had a pretty standard Thanksgiving of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, and home made apple cider. It was all very good and filling. My taste has broadened and I enjoyed the salad very much. All the left overs are going to be sticking around in my fridge so I shall be well fed for the next week. All that work culminated in a sort of quick, early afternoon feast.

It was followed by some more time spent reading and eating chocolate. We all gathered together and watched Black Sheep. I made popcorn and explained my process so that the joy of pan popcorn can be spread far and wide. Mom and Dad and Nate seemed to like the movie regardless of its violence. Whee!

Thanksgiving was nice. A simple little dinner and just about us getting together and enjoying it. Nothing too stressful. It was nice. Except for me not winning Munchkin.

in reverse (duh)

We were tired and came to a consensus that Robin won at Munchkin. She just sailed through getting level after level. Amazing! I drew some profiles as examples for vases Adam could potentially make. He also said he would make me a glass piece of bacon. Can't wait. I gave everyone the present I got for them at Trader Joe's: advent calenders! They were having a sale so I grabbed a bunch for my Munchkin pals. They loved it.

Did my laundry, watched the new episode of The IT Crowd. Ironman was playing at the film night last week so I missed out on that, it was Batman Begins this week. I didn't feel like watching it so I didn't stick around. Hovered over some people while they priced and put together their art sale stuff. Taylor is putting some of his work in it and is asking for a LOT of money. Like sixty bucks for something he just whipped up in history of design. Blimey! I worked on my Keanu portrait. Some time this weekend I will have to go to school and finish that up. Maybe tomorrow or Monday as I will have to go in and return some books then (that Karen very nicely checked out for me). James and I chatted after illustration.

Our in class assignment for illustration was intense. We were given 21 lines of a children's story, 16 double page spreads, and 13 people to spread them out between. I got a part from The Silly Knight where he was walking in the forest. Oh did I mention we had to draw these in about two hours? Yeah, it was a action packed 120 minutes. 20 questions were flying like mad. Our knight was based after Tom's drawing mostly (I tried to make a design but no one payed much mind to it). It was very fun. Our story was more humorous looking than the original but lacked some of the contrast. Mine was the only one in color (I left my ink at home and old had gouache but neglected to remember that I had black gouache which would have acted the same as ink almost).

Robin and I went to Safeway and got some of their Chinese menu for lunch. It was unsatisfying and tasted horrible once it got cold. Not worth the price.

Due to his newfound interest in installation art, I made an introductory packet about installation for Adam. Photocopies of sculptures and illustrations and excerpts from texts about the stuff. Also some writings of my own thoughts on it as a medium.

I wasn't selected for having the best of three for the fountain design. We had a judging panel critique where we did three at a time and the best of the three is going up on the Illustration wall. Madeline, Tabor, Janessa, and Sivonna had prize designs. Many people were missing from class (some people have missed what seems to be half of the total sessions). No rain!

Science friction was a rather general discussion about Watchmen. Just stuff about characters and what it means to be a novel versus graphic novel and all that. Next class should be a little more dynamic. I said some useless things. For some reason Blair ate his yogurt with chopsticks.

long days are not a stoppin'

Blah blah blah women's clothing sexualizes us waah waah waah. I'm so tired of the constant feminist ranting in my lit class. Everything is against women!! Arrrgghh! As true as it may be in some contexts, it is just a constant irking. The class had minimal conversation about the book and it was mostly about women and stuff. I'm probably coming off as an anti-feminist but really I prefer to focus on issues like the lack of pockets in jackets and how pink is the color of women.

Critique for the comic was a write-on-sheet type of thing. It was really nice with just a few helpful comments. A lot of people were frustrated with theirs. Robin had a great one but she is so anti comic. Almost hurts my feelings how much she hates them. I was dead tired and swaying back and forth. I tried to nap during lunch. I showed Chad the wall murals from Belgium. He assigned us the final project. Turned stuff in. It wasn't that eventful really, I think everyone had a lack of focus. Also a studio at the end of the week sucks. Next semester my studio is at the start of the week. I don't have any three class days, just a different studio right after the graphic novel class and a break between math and painting.

Chad let us out early so I went home, gained my energy, and went to see the new James Bond movie! Which isn't that good! The action is choppy and low class, there was one shirtless scene and the movie tries to have his tight white pants make up for it. I guess it works as a continuation (it literally takes place 15 minutes after the last movie) but on its own it is just not as good as Casino Royale. Had some good explosions and pretty good Bond Girls. The villain was sort of pathetic looking (played by Mathieu Amalric) and not really all that convincing as bad. Really disappointing and I don't think they weighed on me being tired.

Great new Watchmen trailer. Same for Star Trek (yay for Simon Pegg as Scotty!).

Picked up some library books (The Botany of Desire and a Winsor McCay book) and did some grocery shopping. Made some of my famous banana bread for the potluck Thanksgiving tomorrow. Should be nice, I guess. Lots of people that I don't know so I'm a little wary. Crowds don't do well by me and crowds of people I'm unfamiliar with? Yikes!

Diana won at Munchkin. Again. She makes such a fuss when we try to bend the rules to make it difficult for her. Her sister Melina is in town. Very nice lady. Karen and Diana had some RA duty and Phil, Robin, Adam, and I all grilled Melina. She wants to be a Veterinarian and all our artist talk was probably a bit frightening. Or weird. Probably weird. Phil threatened to lick Karen's elbow.

never a winner

I want to win at Munchkiiiiin! Everyone used up their items on me, twice! And it made other people win really easily. Namely Diana and Phil. We were...spirited tonight. Maybe a little mean.

Half of lit was devoted to talking about current politics and what they mean. Blah blah blah, I hear that stuff enough. I want to talk about scifi!

In Illustration our two class piece is a design for a fountain. We have to do a drawing for a proposal of something that represents Portland. Not really that much of an Illustration assignment. I'm not happy with it. And our final was voted on and we are going to do a design for a float in the Rose Parade! I wanted something, again, that is an actual Illustration assignment. I felt that we haven't done enough in this class. He doesn't assign a workload that is particularly challenging (like this four weeks to do the Snowman comic thing, whatever!). We should do both the Rose Parade thing AND the two page magazine spread for the final. Make it harder for us.

I went to Trader Joe's to do some grocery shopping and lunch getting. Stocked up on multivitamins and some chewable melatonin supplement, to help me with my restless sleeping. I got bananas and apples and chocolate milk and cheese puffs and peanut butter minis. Delicious! Then I went to Ace Hardware to get some Plaster of Paris to start making my puppet.

Had a good lunch, Robin had a bite of my apple, showed the girls the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain videos on youtube.
I'm mostly done with my fountain, I just need to round off the shading.

Started with some of the plaster work on my puppet (when I got home , of course). I filled a glove with plaster to try and make the hand and then carve into it. I will cut it free from the glove tomorrow and see. Then I did a papier mache layer on a balloon but I think I did it wrong...how long does a single layer take to dry? Its just flour and water right? Uhhh. Then I played Munchkin and lost.

when was the last time you touched a monkey?

Our lit class was a small one. I thought my notes didn't amount to much but I did have a lot to say. I talked about removing a generation from the cycle, the painting, the roles of stuff, and arguing FOR breaking the fourth wall after that long take. Trevor passed around a bag of candy (mostly smarties) and I double fisted my portions of it. We watched a snippet of Wall-e and compared the two. It was short but I had a good time.

Very few people are in costume and of those that are, almost nobody constructed anything intense. Robin was Rosie, Madeline was Palin, Daniel was Morgan, there was a Lincoln, and several zombies and witches. What's going on, art school people??

I didn't win or place in the costume contest. Daniel won the first prize (a 25$ certificate for Yo's), a werewolf won second, and Lincoln won third.

Madeline, Robin, and I sat in the library during lunch. Daniel joined us as well and he had a nice little round of talking about whatever. School, classes, liberal arts teachers, etc. I played a little Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron with Jason for his Science Friction project.

In Illustration we wrote a little describing a horror creature and then we switched with someone else and drew that for most of the rest of class. I wrote about these things that lurked in shadows and Madeline drew it. I originally got hers but then I switched with April and so I got this sort of werewolf that was also just a big nerd or...something. It was a great paragraph and then I went off the deep end and did some weird almost abstract painting of it that didn't quite...fit. I dug it and it was something new but also not...right. It was this orange and blue twisting sad mass of a man. Definitely different. Everyone now is putting out consistently awesome pieces. Critiques are a joy. We get to joke and really enjoy the work. Marilyn's mom was in class and also did a piece for our project based upon something Chad wrote for her. I love the class, I just wish I wasn't so dead by the time it rolled around. Having an end of the week studio is a bad idea.

I rode home thinking about how Mid Terms are over and how little Halloween spirit there is in the air. I put on my Waldo digs and went to the Pioneer Place Gap to use up the rest of my discount. Amazing how 50% can make pants really cheap. I'll try not to say this every time I buy something from the Gap but HOLY COW!! I tried on a pair of corduroys but I didn't even have to button them to know they didn't work. Some of the poor "working on Halloween" people had a good laugh when I came in. After those were reasonably paid for, it was time to go and attend the thing I have been waiting years for:

DAVID SEDARIS!

He was signed books before the show. Sadly I didn't have anything with me. Thankfully they had a table of his books including a reissue of Holiday's on Ice with a couple new stories added. I bought it to be signed later. He looks exactly the same in person. And sounds the same as well. My seat was pretty far in the back but for a reading, is that really important? He actually read from mostly unpublished and in progress work. One was only half done. He read about how he gives goodies to people at signings and the experience of buying said goodies at Costco. One time he was doing a signing at Costco but it wasn't advertised well and no one payed attention to him and that was made even more sad by his ever present "No Photos" sign. It was a wonderful blend between reading and discussion. One story was about the pretentious people who pronounce random words in their native language. I should have taken notes. He has a story in one of the newer New Yorkers about how people who go on TV and saying they are undecided voters are actually just attention seekers and how can anyone really be undecided at this point. My dream came true and it was everything I wanted it to be. Due to my seat being far back I managed to get out quick and into the signing line before it got too intense. He was very inconspicuous as he made his way to the table after the majority of the throng had left. The line for his signing was incredibly long but ha! I had a good location! When it was my turn he asked my name age and where I went to school and I said I was an Illustration Major at a conceptual art school (PNCA is heavy in concept and light on like...technical ability) and talked a little about how 12 Moments in the Life of the Artist is in the back of my mind as I see people drag themselves through paint for their thesis. I was jittery but I still got a smile a little response out of him. I met him! Sedaris! EGADS! He gave me a candy and a little leaf from somewhere. He signed the book with a drawing of Lincoln as a turtle. Don't know what that means but he said that it is all art school got him. Haha. For all the drugs and smoking, he has aged pretty well.

I changed back into Tintin and then it was time for Munchkin! First we played with dry ice. If you add dish soap it foams into bubbles and as the bubbles pop the gas/smoke releases. It looks super cool. We tossed it around at each other and had a good time. Food was consumed and we played a good round. Andy snuck in a victory. I had a powerful character but not enough monsters to fight to level up.

And now my long week is over. I have no real commitments for tomorrow so I can sleep in past noon.

bread vs diana: round 1: FIGHT!

Science friction went fast. I had some tea to aid in my alertness. I sat between Tabor and Daniel and drew in my sketchbook for most of it. I payed attention to and tried to think of something to say. During the break I oooed and aaaahed over Daniel's new Leyendecker artbook. It is truly beautiful with so many great images.

On day two of the lipstick thing. Working out pretty well. Got a positive response from Robin regarding it.

About five people were missing from the illustration class. I don't get how people can so freely miss their core class on many occasions. And some people have missed three classes, which when we meet once a week is a lot. Most of the class was spent working on that illustration assignment. We had a dull article by Warren Buffet about investing when the market has crashed and we were told to do a picture for it. I choose to go with the part about being greedy when others are fearful. So I went with a guy standing in the background and a large gray mass of screaming and afraid people loom in the foreground. I had a good idea for how I wanted it to look and it ended up better than I expected it to be. I am really proud of myself. It came out really clean and part of the assignment was for it to be readable when shrunk down (like in a magazine) and mine succeeded on that front. The top three, as generally agreed upon by Chad in the class, in terms of readability and relation to the article were Robin's (who did a great metaphorical portrait of the author), Dominic's (a humorous image depicting cashing in from the loss of money) and mine! I am feeling really good about today. The piece took a lot of time. I had my idea within minutes and it took from noon to noon thirty and one thirty to four to complete it. I'm proud of myself. Go Trillian!

Then I went home and finished watching Fur. The scenes with Diane and Lionel were very sweet though some continuity errors made them a little jarring. Very romantic but I didn't like how it was just that chunk of her life. I felt that it didn't show eno...oh wait I forgot that the video stopped working. I haven't finished it yet. Never mind. Robert Downey Jr was good and once the fur was removed you could tell just how well he was acting through it all because the mannerisms carried through.

Friday night means Munchkin night! I showed Robin and Diana how to make gyoza and whipped up two batches. The first was devoured in minutes. Diana is trying this no bread thing so she used the filling itself to make filling for tasty rice balls. They were really neat looking. Very perfect. Phil and Andy joined us in time for the second batch. Then came with Munchkin Cthulhu (Phil has temporarily traded Space Munchkin for it)! That game has some awesome class bonuses such as the Cultist Class where you get a bonus for other cult members and you can't shake the cult status unless you get some rare cards. The monsters were more difficult and we cycled through the cards several times. I enjoyed the deck very much. Robin won...or did Phil win? Or was it Andy. One of them. Not me. Then we played Apples to Apples! Andy won that. I didn't do so well. I'm not so good at reading what other people will pick. I did create a move that is now called "Pulling a Trillian" where you don't like the cards people give you so you toss them and demand a new set.

After the games I made some Jell-o Brain for the potluck tomorrow afternoon. It is suggested that we show up in costume.

a MAJOR trillian first

Man oh man, I don't know what happened. I woke up at 6:30 and I guess I was disoriented or something and I didn't wake up again till 8:45. I rushed to the shower and threw on some clothes and set off to school (but I obeyed the laws, late is late). I got there right as they were going on break. I didn't contribute to class but I was still there. Sadly I missed the general core of the discussion that normally happens in the first hour. Two and a half semesters with no lates (that I can recall, and at least not an hour late). I'm starting to wonder if this lit class was too much but it is too late to bail out now. And some comics that I've read are coming up so that will be a much easier assignment(I still plan to read them again, but I'm already closely familiar with them).

Our Illustration critique was done ala reality show judging. Three of us sat as a panel and gave the main critique and whoever we were critiquing was on the panel next time and we continued to swap out like that through the three and a half hour session. I really liked that format because everyone had to say something and with three people getting the main stuff out of the way, the extra critiques from the rest of the class were more specific.

It was agreed that how I drew my first one was out of place with the dramatic second and third pieces. Generally they liked my compositions and it was a pretty good assessment. In depth enough without the Modou/Experiments in Drawing levels of brutality. For the rest of class we worked on our next assignment and watched a documentary on Toulouse Lautrec. I did a quick doodle for Karen, which I presented to her in her studio. She, Robin, and I lounged and talked in her little corner and went over our day and weekend plans.

For lunch, Bekka and I went to Starbucks. I got a warm drink, a cold drink for later, and a delicious sweet bagel. It quite sated me and it came in as cheaper than any other nearby eatery. On the way there we passed a rooftop garden. Well we looked up and saw it. Some of the greenery was spilling out over the sides and it was a lovely site to see in a city.

The last few minutes of lunch were spend indulging my new addiction for perusing artbooks and photo copying the images that inspire me. I got a new binder and some more sleeves so I can start my SECOND book of inspiration. All the groovy art kids have them and it is good to know what is going on now when it comes to the scene. Most of the copies are from the most recent American Illustrators book. Each one provides about three to seven images that I like and that is out of hundreds. I figure that once I compile enough, I will go through them and figure out the specifics of things that I find attractive in illustration, photography, design, and general art.

I'm doing my laundry and after that I am going up to Karen's for a quick game of munchkin. Tomorrow I will be live blogging the 24 Hour Comic Challenge so check back through the day, if you have time, and see what I have been up to. Huzzah!

Update: Munchkin was fun. We played two speed rounds. Robin won the first one joyfully and Adam won the second viciously. While Robin was all, "yaaay!!" when it came time for Adam to win he jumped about and hollered and threw down his winning cards. I was close both times but just not close enough. Phil's brother Andy is in town. He moved here actually and is looking for work and whatnot. He has a graphic design degree. He introduced us to pictionary telephone. One person writes something and the next person draws it. Then the next person writes what they think they see and the next person draws that. And so on. My Superman picking up dog poo while Batman moons him became Superman watching as Batman melted into poo. There were fire breathing slugs and footless musclemen flipping pancakes. Very fun game and I look forward to forcing it upon you guys come Thanksgiving.

it's a regular thing

Another late night of Munchkin so I'll try to make this as detailed as possible while still being brief.

Cold. Still very cold.
Contributed a great deal to the first part of lit class, not so much after I dozed off. Chatted with Trevor a lot before and after.
Turned heat way up in illustration.
We were assigned to draw Vienna festival figures in space using references.
Lots of time spent making the windows good.
Not much time spent making the piece interesting except for a guy in the distance.
The usual crew rocked.
Went to Whole Foods for lunch.
Chicken and potatoes was cheaper but I should have just gotten a burrito or something.
All out of bagels and creme cheese.
Not having lunch is very expensive.
We got out early.
Napped.
Watched Anton Corbijn music videos.
Made cupcakes.
Went to Karen's and decorated cupcakes with piles of icing.
Munchkin crew came over.
Surprised Phil with birthday cupcakes.
Diana won.
Game took two and a half hours.
I didn't go far.
We also played the movie link game.
Then Robin and Diana went home.
We stayed up and drew.
Adam gave me some more glass pieces.
And we chatted.
Then we all went our separate ways.

Also, Karen gave me an application to work so I am going to get that filled out and turned in soon. MONEY!!!

glasses → buddy holly → six string samurai → red elvis → elvis → las vegas

Last night I went up to Karen's to play Munchkin. Phil, Adam, and Diana were there as well. The first round was Star Munchkin and I forget who won. We had cider and miny peanut butter cups. The people below us knocked on the ceiling because our walking around was too loud. We went to talk to them because seriously, we were just walking around. A poor sleepy guy opened the door even though it was his wife who obviously knocked. He spoke for her even though she knew English. There was another altercation in the hallway but I won't get into that. The second round combined Star Munchkin and Munchkin Fu and we were playing to 20 levels and with Super Munchkin rules once you got past 10. Phil died at 19 and lost all his cards and a couple levels and Karen won in the end. Lots of late night fun.

I had a good long sleep in which I dreamed that I was on lunch break and in the forest. There was a cheap cafe where I tried to get food but they were really aggressive and served me used plates instead. I found my way to Sting's house and tried my best to not be caught. Eventually I was and I had to get back to PNCA because I only had three minutes to do so. Somehow I was on the other side of the river and far south. Sting's helper gave me a floaty and directed me towards the nearest on ramp for the water slides. It was a huge auditorium witm people waiting to slide into the slides and get where they needed going. I got through easily enough and found my way near school in no time at all. I walked past this art sculpture building that has shown up in my dreams before. There is always a group of people raving about it as they enter on the ground floor and I am always above it looking down. Strange.

I woke up as I was using the water slides as transport for a second time. Seriously, how awesome would water slides be as transport?

I finished up the season of The Wire and watched Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me. I bypassed plans with one person to hang with another who cancelled on me when it was too late to start plans with the first person.

I also worked on my thought web. I have the rough draft almost done. I started with Artemisia's painting of Judith slaying Holofernes. It goes to bible stories, Artemisia, female painters, that Threadless shirt, and beheading. Here are some sample thought threads:
threadless → hipsters → american apparel → risque ads → dolce and gabbana → fashion → project runway → heidi klum → germany's next top model → america's next top model → the transgendered contestant isis → jenny saville who paints transgendered people → female painters → artemisia
or
beheading → marie antoinette → sophia coppola → francis ford coppola → dracula → bram stoker's dracula lived on piccadilly street → the royal academy of art is located on piccadilly street, london → jeff koons' cracked egg won the grand award at the royal academy of art in 2008 → jeff koons did a sculpture of michael jackson → celebrity sculptures → kate moss recreated in solid gold, said to be largest since the egyptian era → egyptian art → pyramids → alien creation of pyramids myth → aliens → alien movie → giger → giger's sketches for dune → dune → sting → sting is a (part time) vegetarian → david bowie is a vegetarian → david bowie as halloween jack wears an eye patch → eyepatch → chihuly → artists who have other people do their work for them → jeff koons again → jeff koons is/was married to a porn star → gloria steinem is against porn → she founded Ms magazine which prints offensive ads in the back and encourages people to write in and complain → risque ads → those edgy anti meth ads → jodie sweetin → full house → john stamos → rebecca romiji-stamos → x-men → stan lee → bit parts → peter jackson → santa in hot fuzz → edgar wright → blood and ice cream trilogy → cornetto → unilever → axe → old spice → bruce campbell → sam raimi → spiderman → kirsten dunst → marie antoinette → biopics → artemisia

I practice my kung fu moves

Oh man, Karen invited us up for a 9:30pm game night and we went to 3:00am. Near the end it was getting intense. We were breaking the rules and pulling cards left and right trying to destroy one another (namely Diana who won twice in a row and almost had a third when everything broke down). Karen, Robin, Diana and I started with a round of Scotland Yard and Diana won. Then we played Munchkin. Between the first and second games of Munchkin, Phil knocked on Karen's door asking if what he had overheard was Munchkin. He joined us and with his boy tactics introduced, we became more willing to screw people over and be all around devastating. I had a strong allegiance to Robin. Munchkin is so much fun, I need my own set now(preferred: Munchkin Cthulhu). The more we know how to play, the better it is. As the night got long, we became more rowdy and it was intense and crowded.

Karen had baked some cupcakes with mint icing for us and to wash it down we had tea and fancy special home made cider. It was delicious!

Earlier in the day, Cecine and I embarked to Safeway with a mission to stock up on food. I was down to pasta, mayo, and meat slices. Now I have some easy meals, bagels, creme cheese, bananas, oatmeal, and cheese steak fixings. Plus udon, eggs, juice, etc. Yeah I'm good to go for a while. We had a lot of groceries but with Cece's motor vehicle it was easy peasy. And we got all of them up to the apartment in one trip.

I finished season three of The Wire. I have no idea what they will do with the next two. Seems like all hell is going to break loose. Can't wait! Also started the Bryan Fuller HBO series Dead Like Me. Fuller did Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies. Dead Like Me is about grim reapers. It doesn't have Lee Pace but it does have Mandy Patinkin.

So I didn't get such a jump on homework, but keep in mind I do have a three day weekend.