tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow

OKAY. LET'S DO THIS! Oh wait, blog about today.

Got up nice and early. Showered, got to Robin's defense. A packed crowd for the front of the Stevens Annex. All the printers were there. Robin's defense was eloquent, well spoken, concise, and beautiful. She really brought out the time and depth she spent on her works. She did this photo graveure prints based on these graphite drawings of contemplative moments in her parents house. She was so well researched and thought so in depth about it. Ahhh so good. I helped her take it down after. Whipped out my power tool to undo the screws.

Then I headed over to Samala's defense. Her short animation was lovely. She did a wordless (well dialog less) animation about going to nature after the loss of technology. All hand drawn stop motion beauty. She did so good and her parents asked good questions. Not typical parent questions that normally just indicate their lack of knowledge in their offsprings choices. There is a certain decorum and dialog expected at Focus Week.

After that I wolfed down two sandwiches and went to see if my room (815c) was available. Will was in there talking to his panel, so I went and got tacks and supplies to put my show up with. He was still in there so I loitered and talked to Karen. When I packed up my posters in a box and went back to the room, he had gone. Will's work was still up but it only blocked a small part of my set up. I strung a string from one side of the wall to the other and made sure it was level. Much easier than leveling each piece. Then I started tacking the posters up. I organized them in a manner so that the one straight forward facial position piece (Madeline) was in the middle. And the pieces that gradually looked left went to the left, and the ones that went right to the right. It looks really good. I couldn't have been more pleased. I was half way through tacking them up when I realized that I should use a regular thumb tack (not a flat headed one) to start the hole. My thumbs were so happy when I clued into that. And the posters went up much faster. I hauled my studio table down and piled my distribution posters onto it. Looks so good. Simple, not fussy. Just like my work.

I practiced my speech and worked on making the notes for my actual defense (no reading straight from pages allowed). Martin came in straight from James' defense and so I told him to chill for a moment. I got him a single serve ice cream from Safeway and some cups and napkins for snack time tomorrow. Got him the ice cream in thanks for being such an awesome mentor, and also he is at thesis all day everyday. He deserves a treat. We talked a little and then I got into my defense practice. He was pleased with the progression and order of it and how far I've come since last meeting.

I finished committing my words to notes. OH and Will came and took down his piece as well. In talking to people about potential questions that might come up, I've found I've been able to construct good responses.

I practiced from my notes with Samala and Morgaine and noticed there were places where I wasn't clear what my notes were. So I'm going to go through it one more time tonight and get that all sorted for tomorrow. I'm up EARLY! Food! Hair! Clothes! Makeup! Trader Joe's! Practice! Defend!

After years and years, my thesis defense is here.

It doesn't feel real, but it is.

Todays Portrait Is: Colin Firth.

a day off

Even though I got a full nights sleep, I still felt exhausted all day. Just totally drawn out and not good at all. Every task felt like a chore, the only peace came during yoga. Had a good little mini meeting with Martin. Didn't have a defense to practice, but we talked about organization. We'll meet some time next week. Afterwards I put up some We Buy Diamonds posters and then went to yoga. So nice and relaxing. After that I got some thai food and crawled into bed and ate it and watched stuff. I continued to watch stuff, and didn't feel any better. Just tired and no enthusiasm for anything. And even though I'm tired now, I don't want to go to bed. I guess I'm a bit depressed. Tomorrow I design and print. Hopefully I'll feel better. Maybe I'll get a hug, a hug would be nice. A cuddle would be better.

I'm ready for this to be over.

Todays Portrait Is: Rufus Sewell.

hoot!

Friday:

Oh boy. I slept in till noon after staying up till 5AM! Got a lot of good writing done. And when I looked up the formatting, I realized that the left margin, because my thesis will be bound, is 1.5". And that brought my paper length to 17 pages. When I was editing it and putting all the chapters on their each page and inserting illustrations, it came to a plush 19 pages. Perfect.

My meeting with Martin went well. We went over a rough outline for my thesis defense. I talked a lot about my experience with Joan's class. It was a beautiful brilliant sunny warm day. But I still went to yoga. Nice and relaxing and held poses. Out of yoga I spent a good two hours editing my paper and whipping it into shape. Printed that sucker out and plopped it in Joan's box. Talked to Daniel a bit. Went home. Had some pasta.

I thought the Odd Owl show started at 8:30 so I left at 7:45 to get there in time. I had never ridden up to Alberta street before. Across Broadway and onto Williams was easy. But then it was a long 20 or so block ride with lots of false "OH is THIS Alberta?" turns. But after a pretty tiring slightly uphill journey, I got to Alberta. And then I got to Alberta Street Public House. No one I knew, or Odd Owl, were there. So I grabbed a pint and settled in. After about 20 minutes Carmen, Phil (of Odd Owl, not printmaker Phil), and their manager Eric came. Yay! Hugs all around. I moved to the venue side of the place (which was a nice hall with movable seating and good acoustics I think) and chatted to them as they brought stuff in. Molly, who went to the Eugene show with me and will be a PNCA MFA student, and her boyfriend Todd arrived. A good crew. The first band had some good little diddies, though I didn't catch their name.

A good crowd came. I think going in the middle of a three band lineup is very much the best. You get the people who linger after the first show and those who come from the last band. It is the peak time.

Odd Owl hit the stage and they were amazing! I snapped pictures using Molly's camera. I boogied. They played new work and old work. I exclaimed "The Way Home!" between some of their songs and they said they would get to it. And when they got to it they said "this one is for Trillian" which made me very happy. That is the song that I did the short animation for. I boogied a little bit. They get better every single time. Just the songs and how they play them and stage presence and general aura of it all. So wonderful! Had a really great night. Had a few beers as well.

After Odd Owl's set Phil and I sat and talked on the other side of the pub (there was one bar section where you get drinks and can sit at tables, and then in another sort of room is the venue hall). Carmen joined us. Pretty soon it was time to pack up because the place was closing. Option one was to hug and part ways and option two was to load my bike in Molly's pick up truck and hang with the five cool people at her place. I went with that option. After some shuffling of people between cars and dropping one off in a lockable studio place we arrived at Molly's place. We popped open a couple more beers and chatted into the late hours. Another option was presented to me: ride home at 4am or sleep on the floor on a mat and in a sleeping bag. I went the the latter.

Friday's Portrait is: Stephen Fry.

Saturday:

Woke up early because people were shuffling about. The sleeping bag was surprisingly cozy and the ground wasn't all that bad to sleep on. I guess I spend a lot of time getting comfy on mats in yoga. Molly made tea and Carmen had some scones. Believe me when I say these were the best scones in existence. Fantastic. We went for a walk and enjoyed a bit of the bright beautiful day. Stopped in at a book store. Molly lives on Broadway and 20th or so, which is hella convenient for me. At noon we said goodbye to the awesome Odd Owl. I must visit Carmen in San Fransisco this summer. Take a week. I think that would be greaaat.

It was a perfect ride back. Not too hot, not too cold. And sunny. The shower I had when I returned home was marvelous.

I decided to allow Saturday to be a chill day. Take a breather. I did go down to the studios to try and catch Eva, but she wasn't available to be drawn. So I conversed with Mel instead. Then I went back home and prettied myself up. Rollyn picked me up at about 6:20 and we drove out to Tigard. His friend Aaron, who is also a director he works with frequently, bar tends at this Mediterranean restaurant. We sat at the bar, I had a kabob, and chatted with Aaron and his assistant director Caroline and other folks. It was a nice night. There was also a belly dancer that performed. I gave Caroline one of my posters. It's always awesome to meet super nice people. Chatted movies and stuff. Rollyn was a bit tipsy still, so I drove us to the theater to see Hanna. His Honda Fit has very sensitive breaks, and it is a small car like the Prius. And the roads out in Tigard are like those in Poulsbo and Bremerton. That is to say easy driving. None of the complex downtown stuff. It was fun to be behind the wheel again.

Hanna was a much better movie that I was expecting it to me. The great actors didn't outshine the main one. The soundtrack, which is by The Chemical Brothers, set the mood in a very pensive building manner. It wasn't standard action music which really gave the movie a special feel. The colors of the film were crisp and beautiful. The shot layouts were well conceived. And there were some impressive long shots. It was just really well made. Not the most original of plots by a long shot, but because it was so well made I ended up enjoying it a lot. That is how you do an action movie. Rollyn invited me to be an extra on a film shoot tomorrow, but I passed. Time to get back to printing!

Saturday's Portrait is: Bill Bailey.

oh bed, why are you so lovely?

Uhg. Gosh. It was horribly waking up. I was exhausted and sore. I even had my cell phone alarm set to 10am, and still that felt too early. I kept resetting the alarm at random amounts for an hour and a half and then I finally got up, showered, ate some breakfast. Drew my portrait.

I got to my meeting with Martin right on time. I just took my bag of posters and dumped it out on his table. He said "these look great". We set aside each of the nine and looked at them as a set. He was mighty impressed. Sort of a "yeah, you have the visuals down and it works" meeting. It felt really good. Didn't talk about much, just sort of established where I am, and where I am is "I have a bunch of posters done, HUZZAH". He said he will wait to have a complete set of posters, but that he wanted a Samala one for now, as that is his obvious favorite of the lot.

After the meeting, I wandered and gave out posters. Then yoga. I think I like the Friday classes the best. I slow down the most and it really resets my state of mind. It was a small group as the weather in Portland today was GORGEOUS. Sunny and warm enough to not need an oppressive coat.

I swung by the studio where Karen was stressed and finishing her print.

Oh also, I got a nice print from Dom in thanks for the print I gave him, that is to say the print of him that is a part of my thesis that I finished. Glad he dug it.

Back home I chilled and relaxed. Then 7pm rolled around and I left for the print exchange shindig. I didn't have time to make something, well okay I totally had time I just couldn't think of anything, so I just bought some booze on the way there.

Liz, BT, Phil, Morgan B, Jalissa, Lacey, Asha, Heather, Daniel, Karen, Mel, DeAnne, Diana, Me, Beth, Heather, and some others were there. Some stayed various amounts of time. I drank. I ate. I exchanged. The prints look pretty darn awesome. I even drew some people, and as I sobered up the drawings got better. I may have got art for two to three more posters! Hurray! Asha made a delicious pasta salad that I gorged on. Not all the prints were actually turned in, so I left my edition there to be picked up later when the rest of the prints are in. We didn't play any games or watch any movie, mostly just talked and consumed.

It was a rainy but inconsequential ride home. Now I'm pretty tired and I have a lot of work to do on my paper over the next couple days. Whee.

Oh and it is UK Month at Portraitoday. Whoo!

Todays Portrait Is: James May.

eye see part two

I haven't been mentioning my eye issues because they've been getting better. The swelling is gone and now just some little bumps remain but those have been dwindling in size. And then I woke up with another stye. So I wanted to get my eyes checked out my an optometrist. But I didn't want to pay tons of cash to do so. I decided that after my meeting with Martin, I would call around to find a place to get my eye checked.

Meeting with Martin went well. Chatted about the mid term meeting. We won't be meeting next week, but I will instead email him some of my text ideas once I get around to them. We didn't fill up the whole usual 30 minutes. Good sign I guess.

So I got to calling. When I got a hold of the place Legacy Health Care recommended, they gave me the name of the eye doctors to cross check through my insurance to see if they are covered. I called my insurance and found out that medical eye exams are not covered. I called the eye place to see about an appointment and found out that an appointment would be $375. NO WAY. So I'm going to search around. Got some great advice about places to go. I also went to Safeway to see if there are some OTC sty medications. There are, but they were all sold out. I think tomorrow I'll go on a search for more. My drops are almost out. If I can get a remedy that remedies, I won't find a doctor. None would probably be open on the weekend anyway, none that were not emergency care. Lame lame lame.

Yoga calmed me down. Then I printed out six more images to turn into prints. Counted 55 or so sheets for Mel's poster. Emulsified six screens. Exposed the six stencils I printed out. Printed Mel in a lovely Mel shade of brown. And then printed the black. The second layer always goes faster. Flats of color always take longer. Talked to Karen. Talked to BT. Talked to Nico. I must have lost some time in there, because I got out of yoga at 5 and finished printing at 9. I guess set up took a bit longer because of printing out and exposing and letting the screens dry and stuff. I've had good luck with the studio crowds. Printing late at night helps. Hung with Karen. Gave Karen the $12 I owe her (we always seem to owe each other money or favors, it's easy to lend to one another because we know the other is good for it) Showed her my prints. Went home.

OH. Well, I'll mention that when it goes through the pipes. Don't want to announce it and create a bum rush.

Aside from the eye, a good day. Printing. Yay. Mel, Heather & Daniel, Robin, and Jon make four. Samala and Dom are ready to be printed when I get an extra couple hours. I want to get all the images I have ready to go printed within the week. So I can get the other side on them when I make the other side.

Next two days will be fun. It is all research paper.

Todays Portrait Is: January Jones.

midterm review

Tonight is one of those nights where I don't want to write a thing. I just want to go to sleep or watch TV and chill. Thesis midterm. It is very stressful!

So I accidentally set my alarm to off instead of on. So I slept in. Still, that didn't hinder me too much. I showered. I ate some food (not a scramble though). Looked at my art books and my history books. Wrote some stuff down. Talked to Kristen. At 6 I went to school and ate some food. They provided a free lunch for us. It looked like Tyler Stout didn't even show, nor Adam Haynes. So all that fuss for nothing. Anyway, at 6:30 the reviews started. Mine didn't come around till 8:30, so I set up my studio for the meeting. Mostly putting things into a corner and moving the table out of the way. Then I scanned in some stuff and reprinted a couple things. Then I chilled for half an hour. My panel was Dan, Damien, and Kate. Some designers mostly.

So the review went pretty well. I got a lot of really helpful criticisms from Damien. Dan and Kate were nice. It was a good balance. Got the positives and the negatives. I got some better ideas for the sides of things. The portrait side is there, the conversation isn't. But I got lots of good ideas for how to bring up that conversation. So it was really helpful. It wasn't a disaster or too easy. So yeah, all that stress. And now I'm in a vaguely better place. I'm going to get on with printing the other side though. Just so I have those ready for when I resolve the other side.

Afterwards I went to Yur's. Damien, from my panel, was there as well as another panel member Nick. I sat with them and Dom (after sitting with some classmates who were drunker than me and I didn't feel like conversing with them at that time). They both had graduated from PNCA years ago, which was neat. We talked. I had a beer or two. People left. I joined the design major clan and hung with them and played their games. At after midnight I returned home.

It was a lot of stress, sure, but it ended up being all right. Now it seems like I won't have to do as much public people drawing. Whoo.

Todays Portrait Is: Jon Hamm.

making my friends like me even more

Hurray! I woke up and my eye was significantly less swollen. And it didn't hurt. Yay! There is still a sty and the inside is red and there was white stuff, but it didn't hurt. Getting up was hard. I was tired. Showered. Got my tea and tiger's milk bar. Scanned and threw some color into my Behemoth label. Really liked how it turned out. Had a nice little critique. Our next assignment is to design something to go on something 3D. But if we have done shirts, we can't do a shirt. So I'll design a glass. We are also trying to make some contact with a local artist. Some sort of networking assignment. Hmmm.

For lunch I got a sandwich from Quizno's. Back in class Martin gave us a run down of how the upcoming midterm meeting will go and what to expect. Well not how it will GO but how it will unfold. We will be getting a panel of people in to give us a fresh perspective. We will talk about our work for 15 minutes and then there will be a talk. He rattled off some names of people they are trying to get in for the panels and he said Tyler Stout. TYLER STOUT!! Gahhh I don't know what I'll do if he not only shows up but is ON MY FREAKING PANEL. That would be awesome.

For the rest of class, it was open time. I'm really behind on my website. I don't even have a domain name bought. My art only looks good on the internet about twenty percent of the time. I don't put the effort into documentation. But I gotta do this for class. Hrrmmmn.

I worked on my thesis pieces. Filling in color and the like. At 3:30 I went to print them out. I chatted to Karen in the print studio a bit. Then I met with Martin....

...and it went really well! He really liked some of the drawings and the way they fit as a set. It felt good to place seven concepts down and really look at them. It will take no time at all to print that side. I just have to resolve what the hell I'm doing with the other side. I just need to draw and design more. I should set a goal to get the half of the posters that I have ready to print printed within the next two weeks. Just get them ready to go, so once I have the other sides finished, I just print and distribute that sucker. Just over SIX WEEKS till focus week. Holy CRAP. Ahhg.

Anyway, with that done I went to the studios and hung out with Karen and BT and Robin and made some comments that were taken in a way that I didn't think they would be. Normally about how when we hang out with people we get influenced by their personality. I called Arvey paper and my paper is IN!! Karen will be taking me to Arvey tomorrow at noon. I can't wait to get my case. At around 6, we parted ways. I chatted to the boys in the studio. Then yoga! It was a lot of lunges and the like. Not my favorite.

Back home I took out the recycling and had some udon and egg. Watched some stuff. Chilled out.

I grossed out a bunch of people with my eye. Mainly because the sty was draining, so there was tons of gross white goop in my eye. Totally nasty, but it didn't hurt at all and the puffyness was receding. Having an illness is such a novelty to me. Once I stop hurting. It has healed so much in the past 24 hours. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Now I shall put some more drops in and go to bed. Paper! Printing! Yoga! Drawing! Powells!

Todays Portrait Is: Anna Gunn.

giving people back themselves

Martin meetings are either awesome or stressful and make me want to cry from stress. Not that he is mean, he is just very good at being honest and pointing out weak spots.

But first blah blah I got up blah ate scramble blah it's cold blah rode my bike. Okay.

So yeah, in the meeting the art got a basic thumbs up, though the anonymous group side of the poster might still needs some extra treatment that does...something. I dunno. And some of the color blocking on the other side needs more thought. Still, having printed the images out at 11x17, I must say that they look really good at that size. I can't wait to actually start printing my thesis. I need to do a ton more drawing. But the main thing is how do I talk about my piece beyond acknowledging that we are all individuals in a collective and that I'm drawing my friends and giving them art. THE BIGGER GODDAMN PICTURE. What I got now is that I'm giving people back themselves. I could give anything, but I'm giving portraiture. That means...something. It was very stressful and now I'm a bit scared of the midterm meeting. If I don't think harder and keep honest and true about it then I'll be wrecked by the panel. Baaha. No fun. Not looking forward to it. Just need to work work work and get my paper printed. My paper still isn't here for some reason. They said a week. Grrr. It'll show. And once I get it I'll print print print. I can always add words to the design of the poster later. Another layer ain't no thang (it just means I can't give them away just yet). Martin suggested maybe some proverbs or something that deal with the themes of the pieces. I don't know how I feel about that idea though.

The sub came for yoga and it was great restorative class. Much needed. Undoes all the stress of the mentor meeting. And I feel all floppy afterwards. It is very cold today, but there is no snow. Yet. Right now I'm writing at 6pm, and in a few hours I'm going to the east side for Thom's going away party. He is going to Korea. We'll miss the awesome dude.

*****

Just got back from the partay. My ears are so cold. They are the old bit that gets exposed to the cold air, that and my face. It feels all funky and chilled. The apartment is warm, which is nice.

Anyway. The house where Thom is at was on 33rd and Knott, or just about. But on the east side of the river. Which means going from 22nd, down to the river, and then 33 more blocks. Plus a bridge. At 8pm. In freezing temps. I had my long johns on, and my long sleeves, and my sweater, and my gloves. It was my damn ears though. Brrr. Still, it was a clear night and there wasn't much traffic. So that was good. I was the first of the PNCA clan of friends to show up. A lot of people I didn't know, but they were cool and I made conversation. Ate pizza. Drank a responsible amount of booze. Thom leaves on SUNDAY!!! I'll miss him, even though he comes and goes from Portland so often. We'll cross paths again. Hes like the nicest guy ever. Anyway. Samala came. I chatted with this guy Sam, who is Chloe's brother. At least I think her name was Chloe. Josh, Janessa, Jon and Dom also came. And Jalissa and Morgan B. and Kevin C. They came and went. Soon it was just the PNCA clan. We played King's Cup and Jon improved a song and we sang to Thom. It was a really nice night. I kept mostly sober because I knew I'd be biking. Drinking and biking, its a bad idea. Especially when you know you'll be coming across street car tracks on your commute. I took lots of pictures. Love my friends. Totally rad people. Some good times have been had in Portland.

Portland has some great great people in it, and that is what I'll remember about it. The people. Not the trendy coffee shops or the hip this or the hip that. It's the people. It will always be the people. Some of the greatest, nicest, honest, awesome, devoted, ambitious people in the world are here. And I love them passionately.

Ride back seemed shorter and less...taxing. And less windy.

Todays Portrait Is: Jade Sheldon.

print exchange!

Even though my alarm went off at 8, I slept in a whole bunch. Still, getting an early start is good. I had one of those bizarre mornings where I wake up at 5am and am not aware of the time and start doing stuff, and then I realize it is way too early, so I crawl back into bed. Ya know?

Anyway, eventually got up and had a scramble and some Emergen-C. Then I went to Coffee Time and drew the people there for an hour and a half. Had a large hot chocolate. Mmm. It wasn't the best of drawings, but it was a start. Ran into Carlson on the way out. If the weather wasn't so icky, I would have stopped and talked to him more. Went home and changed into wellies, as it was raining and icky. Went to school. Had a fabulous meeting with Martin. He liked the work and liked the direction I was going. By next week I should have some final designs of the posters ready to show him. Just to know how it looks like before I print it. So another week of drawing drawing drawing and some designing. Hurray! We have a mid term meeting with people soon. So I need to have a few posters made by the 7th or 8th or whatever. It shouldn't take more than a day to print one poster anyway.

After that I looked at my new Esquire and noticed that this reader letter was suspiciously similar to this letter that Karen said she submitted. Except it was by Kara in Kansas City. Turns out Karen wrote in under a pseudonym. It was her letter! Karen was published in Esquire! And it took up half a page! How awesome is that?

Yoga was relaxing and rejuvenating. It was a bit tough because my tail bone was so badly bruised from yesterday's tumble. But it was nice. Went home. Threw on a dress. Zipper was funky. Threw on another dress. Did my makeup. Karen called me and I hopped in her car. She cruised by her place and picked up Phil. We stopped by Safeway and Phil got booze (just a six pack). Then it was off to the print exchange!

The exchange was 46 prints strong. It was held at Christy's house. A very nice house designed for printing (upstairs) and hosting (lots of open space and tables and general great mingling atmosphere). We were a little late, but not so late that there wasn't food a plenty. Heather, Daniel, Heather, Christy, Yoshi, Tom, Patrick, Diana, Chelsey, Robin, Casey, Morgan, Morgan, Jalissa, Justin, Justin, Lacey, ...uhhmm. Anyway, tons of people were there. The whose who of the print department. And boy do they bring the booze. I stuck to a nice amount of gin. Chatted to people, ate delicious food. I didn't bring any because I am lame. We piled the prints so that we would all get the same number out of the edition. I drew #19 out of a hat. I roamed and chatted and had great conversations with tons of cool people. I forgot my camera, but Yoshi was a shutterbug so there are pictures somewhere. I had one of my Goodwill Bins dresses and some tights. Looked good. Fancy. There was a cat named Leche who was irritable and unpettable.

It was a bit of an early night, Karen took Lacey and I home. Got back at around 10 or so. Not a late party. I walked to Fred Meyer's to get some beer. Good old beer. I also needed to get ten bucks to pay for the box that the print portfolio will go into.

So now I'm drinking beer and watching Fringe. I'll probably call it an early night. Tomorrow and the day after are thesis paper writing days. Gaaah.

Todays Portrait Is: Annie Heisey.

panic receding, is it a tide or a drain though?

Uhg. Totally horrid start to that day. I just couldn't think about ANYTHING with my thesis. Totally blocked. Horribly, horribly, inexcusably, blocked. So I knew waking up that I would have to face Martin and say "I'm blocked. Help." Got up early anyway. Looked at some portrait books. Piddled around on the internet. Just got increasingly more anxious and tense and about ready to panic. Time moves forward and I had to go face my fate with Martin. I managed to keep it together through it all, no tears! I just admitted I was stuck and he gave me some great advice. I pretty much lopped off the seven mantra for seven poster chunk of my thesis. Some of the core values of the mantras I am passionate about will remain in the body, but I won't be bound by that. Now my thesis is changing into studies of friends and the who and why. Still will be distributed, but it is more a presentation of my group and some of the bigger ideals. I really wish I had recorded what Martin said so I could listen to it again. His advice was perfect and the weight and panic lifted in such a short amount of time. Now I have some drawing that I am actually excited to do. Now I can spend time with people drawing them in a manner that I enjoy. Now I can do a thesis that I have passion for. When I started down this road, I did have the passion, but I didn't have a good idea of the images and lumping it all together. Now I have some freedom. It will still be folded up, but I think I'll have more free writing instead of analysis.

Just can't be bothered to do something I have no enthusiasm for, especially when it comes to art.

Yoga was cancelled, I think Fawn wasn't feeling too well. Went to Safeway and got myself a beer treat. A nice Ninkasi red ale in one of those slightly bigger than a pint bottles. And got some cash. Took that cash to the laundromat and changed it into quarters for laundry. Hurray.

Popped my laundry into the laundry machines. Two loads! A lot of shirts needed washing. Popped open my beer, made some pasta, and allowed myself to unwind. Now that I'm in a good direction once again, I need a night to regroup so I can attack tomorrow with vigor and enthusiasm. Fringe was good. Community, watching it another time, was also good. Now I'm waiting on Portlandia. But it should also be funny.

Todays Portrait Is: Nicci Spisak.

magicians do not exist

Went to sleep with a pounding headache. Not sure if it was henna fume or stress induced. Popped some advil. Listened to my audio book. Eventually it subsided. Woke up just fine. Rolled out of bed at 10. Had some scrambled eggs and tea. Took a shower because I can't start a day without one, even if I shower at night. I just feel gross after sleeping if I don't have a shower.

Did the Internet rounds. All though the round where I check my student email I neglected.

Went to my studio so that I'd be in a "work" place so that I could focus on work. Which worked! I got some good writing and planning done. Did some sketches. Got my mind thinking. I think I'm going down a good track once again. My mind has been having trouble visualizing this thing. I think it is getting on visual track as well as the foundation. I think I'm getting there. Getting to it. Doing it.

Then 2:20 rolled around and I went in search of Martin. Went to his office. He wasn't there. Went to the commons. He wasn't there. Went back to his office. He wasn't there. Went to the commons. He wasn't there. Asked Ruth at the front desk if she had seen him, she said no. So I went to the computers and checked my student email. There was an 8am message saying he couldn't make the meeting. Well, at least not knowing that got me out of the house and working. Scanned some stuff and shot him an email summing up my thoughts. Worked in the studio a bit more.

Returned to the apartment. My Roos from Zappos.com were waiting for me! They look so freaking awesome. And the fit perfectly. So comfy too. So much grip, so much cushion. Chucks better watch out, I might just have a new sneaker love.

At 6:30ish, I went down to Le Happy, this crepe place that is on Lovejoy and 15th or something, to meet Cidney and Mel. I've never been though I have passed by it a bunch of times. It was a little hole in the wall place. Very cozy. We chatted thesis and Washington and general stuff. I had the ham and cheese crepe. Delicious! We split a honey and lemon one for dessert. It was a great little meal. We left right as people started to line up for tables. I had some time before the movie so I joined them in the walk back to Mel and Melissa's. Because they have a kitten! Little Zsa Zsa! I terrorized it for about fifteen minutes, and then headed home. No one calls me all day and then they all start calling and texting when I'm riding my bike! It was just Karen saying she wasn't going to be at the movie, and Rollyn saying he was at the movie. But I'm not going to bike and talk. That is crazy!

Dropped my bike off at the apartment, said hi to Kristen and her visiting family, and then dashed to Cinema 21 to watch The Illusionist. Rollyn joined me in line, even though he had the ticket. Inside we found Asha, Eva, and John (Eva's boyfriend). I had organized a little "hey who wants to see the new Sylvain Chomet movie" get together on Facebook. Heather and Daniel were also due to show up. After we got settled, I went to get some popcorn. Heather and Daniel were in line for treats, perfect! They sat behind us, because there was no more room in our row. Which was better almost, because it is easier to talk to people behind you than five people down.

The movie was delightful! It was also a bit sad. Set in the late 50's (I could tell because of the cars, yay for fins) it was an animated movie about a French illusionist and a Scottish lassie. A mostly wordless tale of their friendship. Lots of great character designs and little moments. A darling little film. Sad at times. And it made it seem like Scottish was a foreign language as well. Couldn't understand a bloody word of what the girl was saying. Afterwards we all chatted in a little group. Daniel and Heather parted ways. And Rollyn and I parted ways, so I could walk him safely to his car. But then it turns out that Eva and Asha and John all live along the same walking path, so for a few blocks they mock stalked us and we chatted some more. Then we really split paths. I got Rollyn safely to his car and then I strolled off back to my place. Love my 'Roos.

Kristen's family is in town for the weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to go paper shopping for my thesis! Oooohhhh! Big decision big decision. And then in the evening it is Melissa's 21st birthday. I'm likely to only be there for the first chunk of the shindig. But who knows....

Todays Portrait Is: Asha Whittle.

23 years young

Oh boy! It's my birthday!

In the morning a package came from Auntie Celia. Perfect wonderful timing! I got some tights and a Zappos gift card and some nice incense. With the tights, I threw on my nice dress that I wore for Harmony and Peter's wedding, a black sweater, my Chucks and I was ready for a nice day of looking good.

Oh, I also opened the presents in ma and pa's box from home. Got a teavana tea thermos, some fancy blooming tea, a collection of short stories edited by David Sedaris, Chris Ware's sketch book (the one from 95-02)...awesome tacular!

Also Kristen gave me some lovely lipgloss in a fabulous subtle color. Goes great over my Lush lip tint.

I got my stuff together. Had some tea and toast. Got my MP3 player and walked down to school. I scanned my print proof drawings and brought them into Photoshop and arranged them into several different compositions. Printed them out. Unfortunately the print studio was occupied with a class, so I couldn't get the print in just yet.

While wandering around I heard "Hey, Carmen's cousin!". Molly! The girl I went down to Eugene with for the Odd Owl concert! She is going to be an MFA at PNCA! Totally neat.

I met up with Martin in his office. It was a good meeting. Mostly talked about ideas and thoughts and different subjects and planning the semester. Now I just need to do it.

There is a big pile of art in one of the Illustration rooms. I dug through it looking for my art, and the art of my friends. I didn't really find anything of mine, but I found stuff of Dom's, Samalas, Lacey, and Madeline. I took it to my studio, dropped off some stuff, walked back to school.

BT and Karen were at school, waiting to go to Rogue with me! I dropped my proof off, and off we went! Also ran into Dom, Jon, and Sivonna and told them to come to Rogue to. They said they'd come by in a bit. If you are a member of Rogue Nation, which I am, you get a free 32oz beer and a free shirt on your birthday! I ordered my usual oatmeal stout. I could barely hold the mammoth thing with one hand. Everyone else had reasonable sized beers. I also ordered myself some fish and chips. When I was picking out my shirt, Dom, Jon, and Sivonna came. Beth came by near the tail end too. It was a nice little day-of celebration. I wandered back to school with BT and Karen. Printed out Brynne's chili recipe. Walked back home. No biking today. No drinking and biking.

Once home I put up my feet for a bit. Made cupcakes. Watched Fringe. Decorated cup cakes. Talked to Mel. Spent my Zappos gift card on a pair of red, white, and silver Kangaroos. I'm excited! They look comfy. Now I'm pretty tired. Tomorrow I have to go get chili and make it. I don't think I have much else that I have to do. Just sleep, shower, eat, and enjoy being born.

Todays Portrait Is: Madeline Conn.

49. "down the _____"

Woke up this morning just planning to use a haircut as an excuse to get out of the house. Woke up to an email from Martin asking if a 2:30pm meeting today was too soon, I shot him an email saying I'll see him there. Showered. Took notes about my thesis real quick, ate some food, and then went down to school. Talked to Tippi, who was helping with some new student orientation. Chatted to two new students: Eric and Drew. Chatted in the library. Came back and talked with Martin.

Talked about my struggles and questions. Mainly took a lot of notes. He told me what to have done by next week. Mainly a lot of decisions and a calender. A big scary calender of deadlines. Yeek! It is looming! But it was a good meeting. He didn't come down on me for being behind. He was just "you need to have thumbnails done by the end of January". Totally doable.

Afterwards I went to Bishop's to get a haircut. My ends are so split. Just need a trim so that my hair is healthy and not dry and frizzy. Also to get properly cut bangs. I only get a haircut about twice a year. Come summer time, I'll get another. When I was waiting, I talked to this guy Kyle, who was also waiting. He had broken his leg so I used that as a conversation starter. Slipped and it was broken in three places apparently. Ouch. He said he was thankful that he hadn't bought a ski pass yet. I suggested some movies on netflix instant watch.

My lady did a really good job. I have nice layers now and she gave me a hair product tip (I didn't buy the product though) and she did a nice awesome blunt cut on my bangs. Very straight. Afterwards I went to Powell's and got Lewis Hyde's The Gift, which is pretty much required reading for any artist, especially if they are doing a thesis like mine. Giving and stuff like that. I got in contact with Rollyn and we made plans to see Rabbit Hole at 5:15 at Fox Tower. I grabbed some Baja Fresh fast food for late lunch and met him there. Blue Valentine is also playing, but we missed the start of it. So we stuck with Rabbit Hole.

Rabbit Hole made me crrrryyyyy. A lovely little film about tragic loss. Based on the play. Brilliantly acted. Well directed by James Cameron Mitchell. But during some parts, I was crying pretty bad. It really hit close to the heart. But Rollyn didn't tease me about crying, he is nice like that. We lightened the mood by watching MST3K: Werewolf. Haha. It wasn't a blisteringly cold ride back as it usually is.

Now I have some aim. Hurrah! And a bunch of reading. I was hoping The Gift would be a small book.

I ordered some discounted Threadless shirts. Birthday treat! Also they were having a sale, so awesome. They haven't arrived yet, nor has my box from the parents. Yay presents!

Todays Portrait Is: BT Livermore.