the poor get slightly less poor

I'm not so keen on the online game/forum Gaia. I was when I was...fourteen? Fifteen maybe. It is sort of colorful, silly, and overall a time waster. Anyway some people might say about it, "You can't pay me to play Gaia!" When it comes to me, you can. $75 is a nice sum. That was what the focus group was for. We showed up and talked about online games and our interests and then we played the game (Gaia Battles or something). It was cutesy but nothing really original. Our insight was that it needed something original that was a draw otherwise it was just good for the people who play Gaia right now. But yeah, two hours of talking and playing a test game and then I rode home $75 richer. Yeaah!

It was cold riding to and from the place but not raining. Chinatown and Oldtown scares me after dark but it wasn't so bad. Being around non-art school students was a big shock for me. They are so...same dressing. It was weird.

Today was fairly long and short at the same time. One of those busy days where you get up later in the day and end up without a breather till 9:00pm.

Printmaking had a quick overview of where our prints are (we have time to work on them before we turn in the series, that is awesome). I am starting to move on to my next prints but I have a couple more (nice) prints to make. Got some good advice on where my print is (nice lines, etc). The class is small but the variety of work is so broad. After that we broke for lunch.

I ran into Diana and we went to the Sports Bar and Grill and got some warm eats to go. I had a grilled chicken sandwich that wasn't really worth the price but it was fun slobbering over the meaty food in the PNCA commons. The garlic fries were superb, almost worth it. Anyway, it is fun to treat yourself to a full meal every now and again.

While walking across the commons I encountered Jack. He extended his hand in what I thought was a "bro tap" (or whatever it is called when you bump your fists together in form of greeting) and so I returned his tap. Then he told me to, "hold you your hand." So I did and he dropped a chocolate into it.

Returning to class we went on a little walkabout trip to look at some local print galleries. Saw some great pieces at the first place we went to...and when we left it started pouring rain so we just went back to PNCA. I was working on my bedhead look but it just became drenched rat instead. Oh well. I sprayed the back of one plate (after cleaning it up a little). He gave us a hardground demonstration. We have to combine hardground with one of our other techniques. I'll probably use it with the sugarlift. I'm not sure what my next prints will be exactly. Maybe Bigfoot related... I prepared another plate from getting it cut, filed, sanded, scrubbed, cleaned, and all the way through to spraying the back. When I went to spray it I ran into Matt, Michael, Jim, and Robin on my journey to the spray booth. I'm working on one 6x9 plate and one...larger. I don't want to say 12x18 but that might be the size. I think that will be the sugarlift as there will be more room to work with the medium. For tea time I had Sweet Wild Orange tee. I prefer the pomegranate but it was quite tasty.

Free yoga started today but I couldn't make it because of the focus group. I just relaxed and home and had some nibbles before riding out again. It would seem I am more likely to now make two back and forth trips to PNCA (or a similar distance) in a day than one trip, even though only Tuesday and Thursday really warrant the journey. My legs will be in better shape after this semester than after the last one! Whoo!

Celia sent me a wonderful package. The letter in it made me a little homesick. I am missing all the little things she is doing with the Big House. Now I will only see her place grow in leaps and bounds. She gave me a wonderful and comfy shirt with the package (and wonderful, and much needed, lip balm). It smells like her, the shirt does. I would say it smells like home but it smells like Auntie Celia specifically and she is a part of that home.

It made me sad.

Wooly Men of the Mountains (work in progress)

Gouache work in progress for Painting Techniques. The assignment is to invent a landscape that joins together two sections of pre-existing landscapes.

bigfoot (and other like creatures)

Okay yeah. I was right. We did the collage wrong. It also wasn't due today. He wanted lots of little pieces assembled and not the shapes cut into the forms. Everyone had theirs done and no one had it like how he wanted so obviously it was his fault for not being clear enough. Grr. Oh well. Outside of that, the drawing class went pretty well. We spent 45 minutes drawing a single still life. I drew a glass vase. It ended up fairly decent. Karen and I passed a couple notes back and forth commenting on how the dead silence in the class resembled detention (not that I have ever been). Really really quiet. Even when he leaves the room no one talks. We are trying to form a community but no one extends themselves.

The next part was we had to do a quick sketch of a set up of this still life he made with tons of mannequin parts (mostly legs). Then we took the sketch and adapted it into an organic shape. So I drew some trees and stumps and logs lying about. And Bigfoot lying behind the logs. Little did I know Bigfoot would be a theme for the day. I completed my drawing and was very satisfied with it. I was saddened we didn't critique them in class but we will probably get to it on Thursday.

After class I hit up the library for another armload of books. Love that place, lots of great references about. Have to know my stuff!

Home was a lounge about. Nibbled on some snack food, watched youtube videos, and looked through one of my library books. I had to leave early to print out something for the painting class and buy some gouache. The gouache was picked up at Art Media. I bought the 8 piece set (which has two yellows, two reds, two blues, a black and a white...but no secondary or tertiary colors) and a tube of burnt sienna to round it off. I had to use my "emergency" card; which is to say my Key Bank debit card, onto which all my paychecks go. It is sort of my savings but hey, saved them for when I have to buy painfully expensive art supplies. Art supplies which I didn't really use because I still had remnants left over from the gouache tubes that came with the portfolio starter set I bought last semester! Well once I started using them (hey look a teacher that shows you how to use them without burning through your tubes) I knew I had made a good buy. Really like the medium now.

The assignment for this week is to take two dissimilar landscape sections and stick them on a piece of watercolor paper and paint the blank space as if to join the two landscapes together. A really cool assignment and we can put whatever we want in the landscape. Mine is a cloudy mountain (taken from a photo of mine from Toyama) which joins to a rice field and it has mountain dwelling, Bigfoot-esque people between the two. I even worked on it for a few hours tonight because I love the painting so much. I don't want to rush it at all. It still has a few of the creatures and the clouds to be put it but I love the way it is looking. I wish both the photos were mine but they are not so I can't really get full credit for it.

Someone was saying some stupid stuff in class (not naming names but if you were there, you know who I mean) and I was saying that she was reading too much into it and that Cookie Monster just loves cookies. Anyway we were being a bit loud (I was working all the time!) and the teacher told us to keep it quiet for fifteen minutes. A tad embarrassing but it wasn't my fault. Next time I will sit farther away from the igniter of Sesame Street disputes.

I went home, ate a dinner of leftover French toast, Oreos, and milk, looked at my art books, and painted. Didn't get anywhere on my sketches for printmaking but I will work on those...tomorrow. I have to prepare the plates anyway so no biggie. I'm a little ahead anyway and I know what I want to do. Sort of.

Yay Wednesday is tomorrow! Printmaking + paid focus group!

Madonna on the Rocks

The weather is improving (watch as there are downpours all tomorrow). I didn't really need my scarf riding back or my coat during class. It is nice.

Waking up at 9:30 on a Monday is the only way to go. Got to class on time and was at full attention. Except for the occasional doodle on Diana's paper. I'm getting so much inspiration from this class. Too bad my evening was sucked up by my collage. There are some pieces I really want to start sketching out. Whoo!!

During lunch this guy performed in the commons. Oh wow he was terrible. Just...uhg. We were way in the back but his horror reached us. It made lunch seem twice as long as it normally is. Ate my apple and sandwich is an irritated silence with a wide range of people that came and went (Lindsay, Jim, Acey, Jack, Mel, etc.).

I stopped by Storables on the way home to check out some of their storing selections. I think Ikea is the place I need to go to though. I picked up some sweet hangars that were 25 cents a pop and very colorful. The wire ones are damaging some of my shirts.

Relaxed a little and then set about doing my collage homework for drawing. Bleh, I don't like to collage. I am too messy for the likes of it. It turned out sort of how I wanted it to look like. Honestly I don't know what he expects from us so as long as I got it partially right I might be content. Though probably not.

Ate some tasty udon with egg for dinner. Num num num.

Now to read some Epileptic and sleep.

weekend (almost) wasted

Well I got a little accomplished today. I slept in, but still set my alarm so I wouldn't be crashed out till 3pm. I puttered around the apartment, cleaned a little, did the dishes (why do we have so many dishes?). Jim came over and hung out for a bit. Jim and Michael always seem to come in pairs. If I see one in the weekend, I will see the other.

Today just sort of drifted past. Nothing much went on.

There were some Scientology protests going on downtown that I slept through. Saw some photos from them, the worldwide ones. Scientology is a good thing to protest. It is so foolish. The creator himself said that the way to become a millionaire is to start a religion.

Another school week starts. Not as busy as last week. Just have to squeeze in some paintings. After I do my collage for drawing.

short day. late night.

I slept in. Lindsay was out till 11:30 am so she called off work. We went out for brunch. I had French toast, sausages and hash browns. She had an omelet. I looked at recipes. I did my laundry. I went grocery shopping. I bought my favorite kind of juice. I made cream puffs and put whipped cream and chocolate syrup filling inside of them. They were okay, they need a heavier filling. Michael was coming over so I made rice. He got out of work a little later but the rice was still good. I whipped up some gyoza. Delicious meal. Michael and I chatted and lounged about late in to the night. Or early in the morning. Michael went home and now I am going to bed.

with great rain comes great rain pants

Just got home about half an hour ago. Really long day. But it didn't feel like a long day, actually I feel great. I am on top of things and working hard. Still, spending thirteen hours at school? That makes for a very long Friday.

The day started with rain. At first I thought "dang" but then I remembered I have my rad rain pants and so the journey wasn't that bad.

My comic lit class, the conversation is mostly dominated by one guy. He knows what he is talking about and is really into comics but doesn't let up for the other people that often. We talked about McCloud and I spoke up a couple times. During the break I talked to Trevor (the teacher) about the imagination creating horror and how that makes it that much more effective when utilized in films (instead of just showing all the gore). Then we watched a video about the history of superheroes, as we won't be studying any superheroes this time around. Cool, if a little cheesy, video. Didn't know how much went on during the ages of superheroes. Wow!

Then during my hour break I completed a print. It ended up pretty cool; it was a blue black print on the paper and that works a great deal better than the warmer bone black ink. I could have done a second but I didn't want to rush it so I checked my email and went off to work.

I keep thinking I am forgetting to do something at work because I always finish up my tasks super early. I sweep, I scrub the bathrooms, I check the paper towel and toilet paper levels, I change out the trash...I must be missing something? Anyway, it gave me time to read Crooked Little Vein. Yeah, Ellis should stick to graphic novels. It isn't that bad but it isn't this magnificent feat of a novel. It is almost funny but not quite. I'll see how it finishes.

Then I spent an hour and a half in the print lab. I had to replace the blanket in the press and the pressure was off so my first print was a little light. The second was much better but still a little wonky. The blue black ink is giving me issues...or maybe my hands are really oily. But anyway, I am ahead on my printing so that is really cool. I only needed one proof for next week and now I have four (three blue, one brown). Well...one of them is light so it is more like three. But still, three. I am on top of things! Yeah!

Jim also called me and set me up to be part of a focus group. So that is cool. Jim works calling people and asking if they want to be in focus groups. It is paid as well, booyah!

After printing and the focus group call I headed off to movie night. It has been moved down to just one movie now and they are actually good movies. Tonight’s was Basquait. It was really sad and the lack of music seemed to detract a little from the film but overall it was very touching and I wanted to cry at more than one point. And you can't go wrong with David Bowie.

After the movie Jack and I went to Urban Grind and I grabbed flavored steamed milk and we chatted for a while before departing each others company.

I rode home, made myself some spaghetti and sauce, and now I am kicking back to watch Lost.

I left at 7:45am and returned at 9:20 pm.

fear & frustration

Today was...difficult. I did the assignment for Modou somewhat wrong. The first part was right but I didn't know the second part also had to be done on the same sized paper so I have to redo that. I do not like doing assignments wrong when I attend class and pay full attention. Not at all. He is also not above saying what he thinks, calling you out, and humiliating you in front of the class. I wasn't outright humiliated but it still wasn't fun being told I was wrong. He said worse things to other people ("You came late so this is no good.") but I'm still distressed about it.

We did still lifes and then we were told to find the animals in the things we had been drawing. I saw a scorpion/whale/platypus/anteater all in the same teakettle. And Ibanez and a camel in this fancy silver teapot. I forgot how to draw most of those with any sense of realism so really only the chubby platypus turned out. Modou liked them so I guess I passed.

I walked Lindsay to work and swung by Powell's to pick up The Time Traveler’s Wife. Yay for having lots of copies and a few on super sale.

Didn't spend much time at home. Ate Trader Joe's cheese puff and watched the new Lost episode online. Pretty good start, interested in seeing more. Very mysterious with the Charlie and parachuting person stuff.

I met with Lennie about studying abroad. Belgium does not have a summer program so I am going to make Pont-Aven in France my main focus. It seems cool. We had a great meeting concerning my options. Yeah I'm rather pissed at PNCA. They seemed to punish me for registering early by adding a first unit of Illustration to this semester. I will be here for three years but my last year I will probably be part time. Right now I am looking at studying abroad in Belgium at Hogeschool Sint-Lukas for a semester in my Junior year. This is something I have to think about now so I am not leaving it to the last minute. Like I am doing with France.

After the meeting I quickly wrote up my still life sum up for painting, grabbed a bite to eat, and hobbled off to class. Well not so much hobble as shove my way through the throng of smokers.

The final touch on my still life was to add a background but the wash looked horrible so I am not so keen on it. I think it looked best three-fourth of the way complete. Oh well. Happens. Sat between Jen and Karen and we had a fun old time in the back row singing songs and exchanging words.

The weather was just horrible enough that Lindsay and I couldn't be bothered to leave the apartment for First Thursday. Karen came over and we drew and chatted and I added an idea to Lindsay's idea book. I made gyoza which was enjoyed thoroughly.

Karen left and then I noticed the time and remember I had yet to write my summary of Understanding Comics for class so here I am blogging late at night after staying up working on that. I'll be tired tomorrow and I have a fair amount lined up to do:
Comic Class!
(Printmaking probably)
Work!
(more printmaking probably)
Movie night!

Leave at 7:45 am, get home at 8:30pm ish.

juice lifts the spirit

Just finished my drawing homework. Lindsay had a music mix and I had a music mix. All in all, very awesome. We each drew continually for ten minutes on a piece of paper and then drew from the patterns that we found. Lindsay made a whole band, I had a couple little things but I dunno. I'll see more tomorrow...probably.

The rain on the way back was terrible. I am really out of practice for both putting a plastic bag over my seat and remembering my rain pants. Oddly enough, the rain didn't bother me in the least. Even though it was coming down quite hard I still went out of my way to Trader Joe's and made it home with a smile on my face. The smile was due mostly to the grocery run. I picked up juice! I love juice. Well it was more lemonade this time around so maybe I should say I love sweet non-carbonated beverages in large jugs that I can enjoy in any amount I desire. Safeway no longer has the juice I love. During Printmaking I decided to go to Trader Joe's so I think that thought kept me motivated for the dreary ride. I also picked up cheese puffs. Love them.

Learned two new techniques in Printmaking. Sugarlift and Soft Ground. Not sure how much I remember from either technique but once I get working on them I can write more about them. I have ideas for the Sugarlift plate and maybe the Soft Ground. Very exciting. I also managed to run off two more prints from my plate, after I etched in further detail. The waffle knit etch on the girls shirt looks GREAT. Far exceeded my expectations. The dots on the mans shirt are subtle but effective. I'm very thrilled with it and can't wait to run off a series. I did one test on newsprint with the new etching and a proof on good paper. The ink was uneven for the proof but Yoshi digged it.

Left a little early from the Goose and picked up some printing paper from the nice people at Art Media.

Comic Club had its first meeting of the year. The regular folks were there plus Jen and August. We wolfed down 5 Dominos pizzas. Tasty. I think they were mediums though. We talked about the zine and random things. Not very exciting but off to an okay start.

Printmaking takes up most of my Wednesday. I love Wednesday.

Professor Plum, in the Drawing Room, with a Revolver.

Clue Night was super fun! We were not playing it exactly right the first couple times and so the games went really fast. Tabitha is a crazy Clue player! She won most of the time. The last two games I had figured out 2/3 of the crime but she always beat me to the last one. Tabitha and Chelsey (I have been spelling it Chelsea, when it is in fact Chelsey. Whoops) did not come with a costume but the rest of us made up the difference with sheer awesome.

Jim was Colonel Mustard, Kristen was Mrs. Peacock (though seemed more Madame Rose in her execution). Karen was Miss Scarlett. Karen made us smoothies and I made some cupcakes which were enjoyed muchly. I employed the same use of self decoration that went over so well at my birthday. Diana had essays and Robin was sick so they couldn't make it. Mel was there for about 2 minutes, she had other things to do I guess. Oh well, maybe next time.

My Professor Plum outfit consisted of high waisted dark blue Jon Valdi trousers (courtesy of Auntie Celia), suspenders, a purple top, a sash tied into a bowtie, novelty glasses, brown pointy shoes (also thanks to Celia), and a drawn on stache. Oh yeah, I was rocking.

Okay, on with the rest of the day. Lindsay was sick so she couldn't attend class. Also six other people could not attend class so it was just eleven people total. Most of the time we drew painfully boring still lifes and spent a few minutes each continually drawing on this one big piece of butcher paper. I brought in my bear rug, expecting to talk about culture and use it as an example, but we never brought the subject up. Not the most interesting class but not the worst. The next few weeks seem exciting.

Riding home was hell. My art travel tube is a pain to go anywhere with because it doesn't really stay secure on ones shoulder. It kept sliding down my arm along with my shoulder bag and I had to keep stopping, in the rain, to adjust it. I really hate that tube, most of the time it just isn't worth it. Need to figure out how to make it not be such a horrible contraption. I was right pissed off when I finally returned home. But once I settled in, all was well fairly quickly. I baked cupcakes for tonight and chatted with Lindsay. She just had a random short illness it would seem. Hmmn.

Painting was of a still life of our own choosing. I put together freaky fish, Zaphod, Sluggy, my pink necklace, and Fab 1 into a little composition. I only managed to fill in most of Fab 1, half the necklace, and freaky fish. The fish looks awesome but I am a far cry from being finished with it. Really I just wanted to get home so I could become Plum and enjoy Clue. We had a brief look over of our still lifes from the past week. My white one looks pretty nice actually, I might have a future in this watercolor business (ha yeah right). Next week we will be moving on to gouache. Joy.

The second ride was easy peasy. Put on my costume, grabbed the cupcakes, and hauled it up stairs to get my game on! Yeah!

our culture, our bearskin rug

I made a bearskin rug tonight. It represents our(Lindsay's and mine) culture. Well, really it is a sheet of left over butcher paper cut(by Lindsay) into a bear shape and sharpied partially by her but mostly by me to look like fur. Actually, it is pretty damn fantastic looking. I am going to bring it into class tomorrow. I hope I don't chicken out and don't show it.

Art History is fantastic at 11:00 am. I can't believe I survived it at 8:00am for a whole semester. Blimey. Learned a great deal about the slow shift into more realistic art.

During lunch I went to the Pont-Aven lecture which was cancelled. Lennie gave a brief synopsis anyway (one person who was going to talk about it wasn't able to come). I think I will apply to it as well. There might not be a Belgium summer program.

I printed out my forms and corrected images for my digital portfolio. Be a great deal easier if I had photoshop on this computer but I left my disk at home. Oh well.

Went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Tried to watch some of Lynch's Inland Empire and I became really lost just 15 minutes in and it is a three hour movie. I will give it another shot tomorrow.

suddenly a nap appears

I am nearing 200 posts worth of (almost) daily blogging. I think once I get to the one year mark, that will be really something.

Lazed about for the start of the day. I started watching some of David Lynch's video shorts. Really strange things. I wonder why he isn't brought up more in my textbooks and classes. I put a thin blanket over our ugly couch and draped one of my bed sheets over my book shelf. I think I was having a Christo moment.

I started reading Epileptic and then decided to take a nap. Then before I knew it, it was 6:30 and I had not taken any photos. I had to reformat the memory stick because it was set up for a Mac but once I got that out of the way taking pictures of my portfolio was a snap. Now I just need to correct them in photoshop. And now that I have the images, I can upload more art and make this an actual art blog!

After photo taking, Lindsay and I sat down and had another talk about culture for our class. We have been having many talks and we are still not quite there. After our talks I wrote up my essay for Art History that is due tomorrow(an ungraded essay).

This School Week in Portland:
Mon: Pont-Aven summer study abroad lecture during lunch
Tues: Clue Night
Wed: Return of Comic Club
Thurs: Meeting with Lennie about studying abroad
Fri: Return of Art Film Night

And all through that I have lots of stuff to sort out for studying abroad.

bag it up

Collage and game night at Karen's went long. I got home at around 3:00am and decided to just go to bed instead of pushing myself to stay up later and blog.

Anyway, yeah. Hanging with Karen is so fun and awesome. She had a great place and the company is awesome. Smaller crowd this time. When I came over Robin and Karen were watching the new Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley. It was really pretty but it didn't grab me. Plus it seemed like Mr. Darcy was stalking her. Jim came over after the movie was done and we sat about chatting and munching on food. When it got late we started to play Payday and that ended up being really fun actually. Karen has a great deal of really old games. There was also more talk of the upcoming Clue Night and a general comic making collective outside of the club.

I didn't get around to taking photos; those will be done today. There was a get together for the Goose Hollow people that Karen was hosting as part of her RA duties. These girls made some comment about the Styrofoam plates that were there for use. Something along the lines of, "Don't they know we are art students?” After those girls left I broke out the Apples to Apples and we played for a good two hours. I met some cool new people and we had lots of fun.

After I helped Karen bring the leftovers back to her place we went out for a walkabout. I saw a cute guy on the streetcar and we talked a little about comics but his friend showed up and royally blew it. We checked out a mediocre record store and then went to Powell's. Mostly I wanted to see if a couple reference books were cheap there but they were not. I did find a great book about people, their bags, and what they keep in their bags. The book itself is a bag. I loved it and ended up getting it. The book is really well designed and I have been showing it off as much as I can.

Took a little break after hanging with Karen to grab some eats. James came by and dropped off the comics I had lent him and I gave him back the ones he had lent me. Nice little trade off. I ate some left overs and lounged, completely forgetting to set up for taking photos. Oh well. Karen called me and so I went up and had lots of fun. I promise staying up late won't become regular. It sure is fun though.

living spaces/storing spaces

I was eating pizza with Lindsay and Karen called me up all frantic wondering where I was. I didn't know I was supposed to be anywhere but there was apparently a shindig/collage party going on so when I had my fill of pizza I went up. We hung out into the wee hours of the mornings, making jokes and collages and talking about theories and things.

It was gray and somewhat rainy all day. I was prepared with awesome rain pants and plastic bags so I didn't get soggy or even cold (those rain pants are seriously warm).

When I got home after work and my comic run we sat about and talked and we did some moving about. She had to reorganize her room to accommodate a large scale painting she will be working on throughout the semester. I wanted more room so I asked if I could move my book shelves into the living room (she moved her hula hoop light structure into the living room as well) and she said yeah so I moved them on out and stacked them. Now our place looks eclectic and lived in. I hate to say it but I am actually starting to like Goose Hollow. We might be taking a trip to Ikea in the near future to pick up some bowls, a stand for a lamp, and maybe some more shelves. I really like our living room and now my books are more accessible. I'm not worried about Ibanez and my books. It is too formidable for him to climb and he doesn't claw books.

Work went by really quick. Actually I think I might have forgotten to do something because I finished up so early. Didn't do anything eventful. A new refrigerator was bought, it seems chill enough. Mike now has a studio and some of the new people are starting to move in. The MFA's are as awesome as ever. I finished reading Understanding Comics at the end of my shift. Scott McCloud is officially the type that can't do and so he teaches. Some good concepts and he lays them out clearly but he hasn't really applied them to himself that much. Oh well.

Illuminating Manuscripts went by fairly fast. Most of it was just the teacher talking but I think we are still getting into the class and so once we get around to the actual comics it will be more interactive discussion based. Had a chat about McKean and Gaiman with a girl in the class who is currently sporting an old hairstyle of mine.

I went home for the break between class and work and ate oatmeal and drank cocoa and chatted with Lindsay about things which are not fit to share in this space.

After work I made a run to Floating World to pick up the remaining "textbooks" for class. Happily, an anthology, an independent publication, a trade paperback and three issues came in at only $50. Jason gave me a discount. The frequent customer awesome rad person discount. Also the Alex Cahill comic for the class came in the mail. The only thing left is From Hell. Lindsay said she really likes this class because I bring home all these cool comics to read (she has discovered that I lend out from my library quite generously). The bike ride up Jefferson was really hard; it felt like I was towing fifty pounds up the hill.

Tomorrow is a luncheon for Goose Hollow PNCA people and I will also be photographing my work. I need to assemble a digital portfolio if I want to study abroad this summer. I have a great deal of stuff I will need to do all next week pretty much. Well, lots of forms, letter of interest, and a portfolio. I really want to do this so I will find the time to do it. Belgium, UK, Ireland, maybe possibly France (even though I have no real interest)...HERE I COME!! (hopefully).

Shins & Cups

James Mercer gave a live acoustic performance at PNCA tonight. It was at 10:15, after a long lecture about how the army is screwing over the environment, among other things. I am not the biggest fan of The Shins but it was a lovely performance. There was not a large amount of people so it was very close and respectful. It was more about a man and his guitar than this famous musician performing. I was out late but it was worth it.

The Focus The Nation lecture was depressing, as most environmental and army speeches tend to be (or at least make me feel like they are). Some valuable information was given but I didn't write it down.

Experiments in Drawing was spent in part drawing cups (either our favorite cup or other peoples favorite cups) and in a short review/critique. I need to stretch my imagination a little more. I'm still on the fence about the class but I am for sure not dropping it. It is as tricky as I make it; as experimental as I make it.

I went home to relax. I fell asleep reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.

Painting class was spent doing a white still life, as in finding the color in white objects. The class goes fast, too fast. I haven't finished a painting yet. I mix very slow.

After class I worked on my reading response for Scott McCloud's very boring book and I worked on my plate a little. I grabbed something to eat from Urban Grind and then I sat down to listen to the depressing talk.

Very busy day, it will be nice to sit back tomorrow.

intaglio plate #1 - test print

Test print of my first Intaglio plate. Needs some work.

tea time: fact or fiction

Whoo! Long day spent in the print lab. Got to school right on time, even a few minutes early. The first hour and a half was spent mostly in demonstrations of cleaning, etching, and printing.

I retained more information than I thought. After lunch I finished cleaning my plate and carbon transferred my drawing onto the plate. The etching really hurt my hand. It required more pressure than I thought it would and the needle kept slipping. Some of my lines are far from perfect and some are pretty awesome. The hair on the guy turned out pretty fab. I stayed a little late and managed to produce a test print. It needs some more work, probably work I will do tomorrow. I'm very pleased with how it looks to be turning out. With some more work it should be a real piece!

In the middle of class Yoshi boiled some water and informed us it was tea time. Seriously. I heard there was a print lab tea time... I had pomegranate tea.

During lunch I went to a meeting about Global Studios and studying abroad. Some of the information was muddled but from what I gathered I can go study abroad this Summer. I just need to find a school, fill out some forms, and apply by February 12th. So yeah...under two weeks to do a lot of stuff. But I can do it. The schools I am interested in are:
Chelsea College of Art & Design (UK)
University College Falmouth (UK)
Burren College of Art (Ireland)
Hogeschool Sint-Lukas (Belgium)

Hogeschool Sint-Lukas and CCAD are the ones the school already has programs with. I'm going to go for it.

It was raining pleasantly as I went home. Need to get into the habit of having my rain pants with me.

I'm sort of watching Life of Brian in the background. Ehhh. Not Monty Python's best.

sketch for an intaglio plate (#1)

Photo of a sketch to be made into an intaglio plate. (Change to the design is a possibility)

Swade, Jake Allen & Henley

Just got back from Karen's. We sat about watching Scrubs, working on homework, eating chocolate, and just drawing and gossiping as art girls do.

I have my sketch all done for Printmaking tomorrow. It took me longer and I had more frustration with it than I thought I should have. But the expressions are great and I can't wait to translate it onto my plate and start printing.

Today started off fairly fun. It was raining in the morning so I decided to wear my rain pants. It was not raining as I biked with them but I still looked pretty damn cool. We were meeting at Work Sound, which is Modou's gallery that he curates for. The gallery is in East Portland, so I had to cross the Hawthorne bridge. I left at about 7:50 and arrived at 8:15. He didn't show up till about 8:40. The outside was very very cold and the inside seemed even colder. It was painful to sit and draw. The assignment was to draw from observation from the pieces and from those sketches produce an original work to show by next class. Well that is what I THOUGHT the assignment was so I just did quick sketches to get some of the parts I liked about pictures across. However the assignment will be to go over the sketchbook drawings that we did, and not any original piece. It is a shame because I had an idea for what I wanted to do for the assignment. I think I might get a start on it anyway, just so I have something to show with my rudimentary sketchbook drawings.

The ride back was hell. What was downhill one was was up back and I was freezing cold. Some parts of my body warmed up but my toes and fingers were in considerable pain. I just slumped in front of my computer when I got back, turned on the heat, wrapped myself in a blanket, made some cocoa and watched some movies. I watched Drugstore Cowboy in the background as I made my Internet rounds. Maybe I would have liked it better had I paid attention. I don't think it has aged well, it was probably edgy when it came out but now it is commonplace. I also watched Death to Smoochy. That is a delightful movie. Edward Norton is adorable and mostly everyone acts really well, even Robin Williams. Nice dark comedy.

Eventually it was time to return to school. I packed up my painting supplies and rode out into the late afternoon. Class was uneventful. We painted a still life to practice color mixing. I am slowly getting it. Emphasis on the slow. There were enough tables this time so I didn't have to share with Jason. Raved about Fire on the Mountain to him and I think he thought I was asking him out...oops.

It was raining profusely during our snack break. Luckily I had but a plastic bag over my seat. Unluckily I had left my rainpants at home because I doubted it would start raining again. By the time I had to leave it was only a soft rain, nothing too horrendous.

When I got home I discovered a new pet in our home. A venus fly trap. We have been having problems with flies so hopefully the little guy can do the trick.

I relaxed a bit. We cleaned and scrubbed our place a bit. Then it was time for me to go visit with awesome Karen and the crew (Chelsea, Kristen, and Robin).

deep fried

Oh boy. Oh wow. Lindsay called me asking if I had any plans tonight and I said no so she invited me out for Hot Wings. We hopped on the Red Line and transferred to the Yellow line. Matt and Andy boarded at the same time we did and we chatted a little. Amazing I am now running into people I know.

We arrived at Fire on the Mountain and ordered up our meal and took a seat. The live musician was starting his night right as we settled. First up was the large order of deep fried tater tots. We horfed on those for a while and then came the buffalo wings, half spicy and half sweet. Our pace slowed as we wolfed the food down. More and more was stuffed as our face and hands got messier and messier. Right as we were starting to settle, the grand finale showed up: deep fried Twinkies. Oh god. It has been two hours and I am still immobile and lethargic. We both ate the whole Twinkie! Each! We had one each, and we finished it in its hot and gooey glory. Uuuuhhhnnn... We had lots of fun chatting and stuffing our faces and riding back and forth.

Art History lasted all of 20 minutes. Jim, Diana, Sandra, Jack, and Pete are in my class. It is really full. The teacher remembered me and singled me out as the one who suggested No Country For Old Men to her...and then she said she found it really grim and dark and creepy and thought she might have missed something because I loved it. So yeah...she singled me out as maybe a bit psychotic?

I checked out some books and then went home. I finished Twin Peaks and first of all Spanish subtitles showed up out of nowhere covering the subtitles for the backwards talking. They spent 15 minutes in the Red Room. Dale is possessed by Bob. Audrey might be exploded. And that is it. No more Twin Peaks. There is a movie out but it is a prequel. Who wants a prequel??

Uhhh oh maaan. That was too much. And I will be riding 7+ miles tomorrow. Going to the East Side!

figured out something today

Slept in till noon again. A decent time. Watched Twin Peaks and just messed around. Didn't really do much. At all. Slowly have to get back into the work ethic for school. I didn't get out of the house till after 5, and that was only a quick grocery run. I'm trying out this fizzy yogurt in a tube. It is actually really tasty. I like my yogurt in tube form, and not chunky with bits. Anyone who knows me knows I do not like bits. It was also consumed to get the hideous taste out of my mouth.

The taste caused by when I figured out what off milk tastes like.

Jim called me around 6:30 and I met him halfway and we swung by Boyd's real quick and I picked up a hot beverage and he a cinnamon roll. Then we went back to my place and hung about and gossiped. Had a nice little visit and talked about comics and going back to school and how crazy the teacher Morgan was. Lindsay shared her two cents on that crazy teacher subject. He left with my Animal Man comics (in borrowing form) at about nineish and I kicked back.

I think, if I have time, I would really like to reread The Fountain by Aronofsky. The art is beautiful, I have been shuffling through it recently. So if I can't read it, I will just study it.

Ibanez has taken over the living room with his cardboard and paper play area.

I drink your milkshake

Just got back from a late evening with Michael. We saw the last showing of There Will Be Blood at the Lloyd 8 and we chatted for a long time afterwards.

The movie had a rather unsatisfactory ending but I don't think there could have been one. The movie started really well and the first hour was magnificent. There were some amazing and tense scenes and some of the work with sound and music was beyond brilliant. I hope it is nominated for acting, directing, sound, and costume awards. As it had a fairly small main cast the actors had to be really strong and Lewis and Dano were. Daniel Day Lewis had a performance that reminded me of Gangs of New York, not so much a copy but very similar in acting the characters differing types of brutality. Paul Dano, for being the age that he is and having the number of roles that he has, showed subtlety...very subtlety. I don't know what I can say. I don't think I have fully digested this movie yet. Very shocking and real but I began to notice the Cigarette Burns as the movie went past the hour and a half mark. A different story, that is for sure. I like living here as it enables me to see different things.

The theatre we were in was MASSIVE. There looked to be enough seats for 500 people. Outside of Wall-E (probably the same theatre I was in when I saw it) I have never seen anything so big.

Hanging with Michael is nice. He isn't in any of my classes and probably won't be for the rest of our stay at PNCA. Kind of sucks but we are very good about finding time to hang out.

Today was spent loafing and not doing anything. Slept in till noon. I talked to Jim on the phone for a bit. Watched some Twin Peaks. I am almost done with that series. It is getting very interesting and I don't want it to just end in a few episodes. Bah!

Tomorrow I will work on my design for my bronze dry point and read my "text book". Nothing major really. Probably watch a movie and some TV. Might meet up with Jim for coffee (well, a warm beverage for me as I don't drink coffee).

eye of the tiger

I plungered a toilet in the studios today. It wasn't really stopped up for long so it wasn't totally disgusting. Sort of an average day of work, a little dustier and dirtier than normal, but it didn't take me long to get in the swing of things. And I finished most of one of my new "textbooks" during the downtime after I completed my tasks but still was hanging around.

My Illuminating Manuscripts class, which was the shortened title, is nothing about actual Illuminated Manuscripts. In fact the full title is: Illuminating Manuscripts: Comics, Strips & Graphic Novels. It is a class in which I buy and read comics and talk about comics. Huzzah! Booyah! And it is 300 level and there are some cool comic people that I know of in the class. The teacher seems really cool and the selected readings are pretty cool. A couple anthologies, Understanding Comics (of course), a work published by a PNCA grad, Persepolis and the very awesome From Hell. I am really excited for the class. We will also be doing a comic of our own in the end. Very cool.

As Trevor, the teacher, was sick we were let out early. I went to Powell's to get the books that would be mass printed and probably cheaper as it would have used copies. I picked up Understanding Comics and Sexy Chix(a female anthology which I read today). Also I picked up a paperback I have always been meaning to read and at the price of laundry, I went for it.

Went home and ordered From Hell used (very expensive tome) and the PNCA one I ordered direct from the source. I emailed Jason at Floating World Comics and put in an order for the remaining ones. Have to support my guy.

Sexy Chix had some great shorts but some of them just seemed caught up in girly novelties. As if being a lady you HAVE to make lady stories and you can't just write a story. I will probably form better opinions about lady writers as the class goes on. I look at my bookshelf of comics and out of all the Western ones, and out of 25-30 writers(not including the Flight anthologies where surely there are more ladies) the only females are Becky Cloonan and June Kim. I haven't even read June Kim's one. Is it bad that I have so many male written comics? Am I required to support my gender or can I just enjoy a story?

Anyway, after work was time for relaxing and then Karen, Robin, Chelsea, Kristen, and I went to see Persepolis. Today is the first day it was out. We got there about half an hour early and it was good that we did. It didn't really sell out but it was super full. I must say I loved the movie. I was taken in and moved and I even cried a little. It was simply beautiful and it really did convey the comic well while still leaving parts out. The comic is a must read if you decide to see this movie and I think everyone should see this movie.



Rose Bond mentioned if a movie bores her, she notices the cigarette burns. Ever since she said that I have seen the cigarette burns in the film and the shake as the movie transitions to the new roll. Only No Country For Old Men and Persepolis have brought me so in that I did not see them.

After the movie we hung out at Karen's. Robin made fried bananas and we played Apples to Apples. Chatting went long. Like till 3:15 am long. Sleeping in time.

I know how Art History is and looking at my schedule I am sure I can do this semester no problem. I have three art classes that require work and two reading classes. One is mostly done in studio (Printmaking) and the Painting class seems along those lines. I have no idea what to expect from Experiments in Drawing.

a theory about free will (and probably not a good one)

Painting Techniques is off to a running start and that is grand. The class has one person too many and so Jason and I shared a desk (it worked out because he is left handed so we were not bumping elbows at all). We made little transition squares where we went from complimentary color to complimentary color with a gray in the middle. It took me the better part of class to get it to work but I didn't feel really rushed. After we finished we were to do a still life where we mixed colors to get it on the first try as opposed to layering. The skin color for the doll turned out nice but after the collar, it fell apart. It looks to be a fun class, fast paced and lots of work and getting use of the materials I pay so dearly for. Jason and I whispered back and forth at our desk. The rest of the class was stone silent for whatever reason. Also the classroom had a heater WHICH YOU COULD TURN ON!! And get this: it worked. That is really rare at PNCA.

We had a little synopsis of our drawings in Experimental Drawing class. We just gave a brief rundown of which each one was and how we came up with it. There was no critique and no one laughed at me choosing Robert Downey Jr. for chaos. Boo. No critique followed. I think it was mostly because Modou didn't like the assignment that the other guy had given us (clearly not his assignment). Then we talked and talked. Talked about Art History, Art, and History. We introduced ourselves and we had trouble understanding some of what he said because of his accent. I feel sorry for the German exchange girls, they don't speak English that well and neither does Modou (well he speaks it, just with a thick thick accent). And next class we are going to his studio. Rock on. The classroom was freezing cold. I had all my layers on and still I was shivering.

Between classes I went home, ate some MORE gyoza, relaxed, watched the rest of Kill Bill vol. 2, read a little, and then scooted off early so I could buy still more art supplies. I had on leggings, pants, legwarmers, 3/4 length tee, tee, hoodie, pea coat, and a scarf...I was still cold. The only time I was warm enough was when I was in the class with the working heat.

I forgot yesterday was Michael's birthday. We Aquarius' have to stick together.

I finished Persepolis and have moved on to Epileptic by David B. It has a great style and lots of French theories about stuff. One of them was Raymond Abellio talking about free will. He (is quoted as having said in the book) said, "Our free will is circumscribed, it accounts for 1% of our deeds. Great political men or artists manage to achieve a higher percentage of free will." That bit got me thinking about free will and choice.

I define free will as choice but when you think what we have to choose from, our options are still limited and decided based on needs that come from situations beyond our control. We can choose what we eat, but we can't choose eating as a requirement. We have to consume something or we will die. And even then we have to choose based on what our body needs: protein, vegetables, etc. We are restricted based on the needs that just being human requires. I can pick out what I wear but unless the fabric and piece was made just for me, someone else picked the design and style and replicated it on mass. I can choose, but the selection, however massive it is, was already picked out so how much choice to I really have when there is still some limit? To have complete free will you have to reject everything that would be required. Having something required means there is something expected and mandatory about ones existence and then how much free will does a person have if they are born with all these things they have to do to maintain their human body. To reject everything you are required to do would mean you would die. Free will is compromised by just being human.

Or is just having a choice enough to be considered free will, even if what you pick from is predestined?

my apologies to Mr. Fry

Done with my 9 drawing conceptual experiments in drawing assignment before midnight. Booyah! We had to draw what our idea of 9 words was. Sorta like the final collage for 2D design but with only two days to do it and 7 more things to do. Here is what I did:

Strong: a picture of Dad's hands because hes an awesome dude who is very strong in many ways.
Bright: a portrait of Stephen Fry
Elegant: a fashionable lady with pearls
Subtle: drawn words that read "everybody makes misteaks"
Chaotic: Robert Downey Jr. in ink that I've blow to make it run all over the place
Smart: some contour drawings of eye glasses
Beautiful: an assortment of colors because color is beautiful
Formal: a stencil outline of a man in a suit (taken from a photo of Peter Sarsgaard)
Expressive: just some crazy ink lines

So yeah, it is sort of obvious stuff right now but my mind isn't warmed up enough to say "this dot here shows the intelligence that makes up smart". I am most happy with the Robert Downey Jr. picture.

Fun and filled day. Got out of bed perfectly okay but I did not enjoy the lukewarm shower (probably the water is chilled from the subfreezing temperatures). Bike ride there wasn't so bad but the elevator halfway up the hill is broken so that first morning climb up is horrid.

I only have Printmaking: Intaglio & Lithograph on Wednesday, it also runs from 11:00-5:00 (with lunch). Class started a little late as we were waiting for people to show up. Yoshi, the teacher, chatted with us a bit and I talked with Rachel (who was in my digital tools class). I showed off my switchblade comb. And then we got down to it. He went over the syllabus and talked about objectives. We breaked for lunch early (but still it was only an hour). I sat with Karen and...tall dude who I met in the comic club's last meeting..uhh Matt maybe. Oh and a nice lady who is in my painting class, she was there as well. I shared my banana bread with said dude and we talked about stuff and comics. Before I had gone to pick up a package mom had addressed to the school AGAIN. The package was filled with awesome art goodies which were oooooed and aaaahhed over during lunch. And as it was the last of my gifts, that means it is time to make thank you cards!

Class restarted on the dot and he explained how to make and prepare plates. We cut up a couple 6"x9" plates and got to work buffing and smoothing and removing the scratches from them. That process, which still isn't really finished for most of us, took us the rest of class. I will just have to work around it. I think I will really like this class. We are allowed to pick whatever we want for our images that we print so I will finally be able to produce real work in my classes.

After class it was getting dark but I had errands to run. Swung by and bought some brushes, watercolor paper, and etching tool and some sketchbooks from Art Media. My eyes bugged when it rung up as $81 and they were kind enough to let me void the transaction and trade the brushes for ones that DIDN'T cost $30. The $40 supply run then seemed cheap. Bah.

Swung by Safeway and got some soap and sandwich bags and then went home. It was now fully dark. Relaxed when I arrived home, made the Internet rounds and ate dinner with Lindsay at our table (something we have never done before). After dinner she put on a shuffle of her music library and we got to drawing our homework. About four hours of fun and drawing later we were done. Whooo!!

Awesome second day, I must say.

exciting/exciting/bummer

Had my first day as a Sophomore. First day after turning 20. And Heath Ledger is dead. I can't believe he is dead...it doesn't seem that long ago I was watching him for the first time in 10 Things I Hate About You. Blimey.

I woke up at 5am and for whatever reason I thought it was 5pm and I got out bed ready to start my day. Then I figured out what was up and promptly went back to bed.

Regular morning. Made myself a peanut butter sandwich and rode my bike to school. CRAZY COLD. Saw some people I knew and some people that looked lost.

Modou, my drawing teacher, had some flight delays so he wasn't there to instruct us the first day. A sub of sorts handed out an assignment and then at 8:15 we were off. I bought some supplies at Office Max and hung with Lindsay and Karen for a bit before eventually riding home again. Kicked up my feet and watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien online. I was browsing a forum when a thread popped up announcing the death of Heath Ledger. Just...how?

Ate some more gyoza for lunch and headed off a little before 3:00 for my painting technique class. The class was full up with some familiar and new faces. Karen is in my class, as is Jason, a Junior who transferred from CCAC. The teacher switched from Cleaveland to Annie something. She seems nice, even if she doesn't enunciate. It seems to be a fast paced course so that is good. It lasted twice as long as the drawing class and afterwards I picked up some things from the library and headed back to Goose Hollow again.

About six miles I rode today, and it will probably be a regular Tuesday/Thursday distance amount.

I worked a little on my assignment for Experiments in Drawing but I am really tired so I think I am going to curl up with a book and go to sleep early tonight. Watched a little Kill Bill vol. 2 earlier on. Yeah, I like the first better but this does have some fun moments.

I wore longjohns under my jeans, my new waffle knit shirt under a tee shirt under a hoodie under a peacoat. And even with my awesome mobius scarf, I was still cold. BLIMEY!!

new years resolutions: 2008

(A little late for this but I have now decided what I want to achieve this year in which I am starting my Twenties)

1.) Read more. I want literature back in my life.

2.) Accept myself and have friends that accept me.

plaid & orange

Went shopping with the girls today. The girls being Robin, Diana and Mollie. Very chilly. Cheek numbingly chilly. Blimey it was cold today. I don't think it broke 40, and if it did it didn't feel like it.

We met Diana at the library and grabbed some warm eats. Then the shopping bonanza began! Gap had an awesome sale rack, it was affordable and had an extra 20% mark down. I bought a flannel frilly button up and an orange waffle-knit undershirt. The total: $15. Awesome! J. Crew and Fossil just had overpriced and ridiculous stuff so we left. We stopped in at Ray's Ragtime but it was just funky old time stuff. Mollie left us then and went to the library and we continued on to Buffalo Exchange. I saw some nice colored things but when I tried them on they were overly lowcut or sort of see-through due to cheap fabric. Diana found a fab plaid shirt-dress that looks great on me and was a very reasonable $13. We hung around in Anthropolgoie for a while. It had a great amount of really cute clothes that were sadly way out of our range, unlike J. Crew and Fossil which are out of our range and don't really look good either (well J. Crew did have a great pair of skinny leg canary yellow jeans).

We braved the cold and Diana and I got something to eat and we shared a little with Robin. Next was loitering in the Pearl Room at Powell's. There was a book of vintage mugshots that I really loved; such variety and intrigue! Eventually we parted ways with Diana and briskly made our way back to Goose Hollow.

I dropped off my stuff, changed into my shirt dress, and went down one floor to Robin's and we hung out making stuff. The most productive I have been all vacation and it is the final day. We lost our steam when it came to making things and we watching The Red Violin with Kristin and her boyfriend (actually fiancee now). I only remember one part of the movie, and that part wasn't the beautiful shots it contained. Some great little bits of time changing and sets. Beautiful film. All I remember when I first saw it was how the Red Violin was made.

My last day and night of vacation. Tomorrow my second semester of my first year begins at PNCA. My first semester as an Illustration major and my first semester as a sophomore.

force feeding the sugar

As it is midnight, I have officially become 20. Go me.

Woke up early to get everything cleaned and tidied up. Felt like I had a wee bit of a late start but in the end no one showed up till around 4:00 so it all worked out just fine. Watched a couple episodes of Twin Peaks.

Mel came over first and we sat and ate chips and discussed nerdy things. Robin came not too long after and then things really got cooking! Sort of. Diana walked all the way over from Burnside. Robin brought up her iPod dock and we started listening to some tunes while snacking and chatting. The Jones soda was a moderate hit. Very sweet. In need of some real food, I cooked up some Gyoza. It was quite delicious and Chelsea showed up as we were finishing the first batch so I made another. Both went quickly.

We played Apples to Apples. At first we played till 8 green cards and then Mel got 7 so we upped it to 10, Mel still won. During the middle of the game, I whipped out the brain mold Jello.

The mold itself was a larger hit than the actual stuff which was really really thick. I might try it with less Jello...the thickness is very icky. I didn't tell anyone it was brain shaped so it was a big surprise. They got a kick out of it.

After Jello and Apples to Apples we played a few rounds of Old Maid. The rotation got a little confusing at times but fun was had. Things dissolved into chatter and munching on food. Ibanez was also much adored by all the ladies present. We winded down with Two Truths and a Lie. Everyone emptied out at around 9:00pm. But then about 20 minutes later Mel, Robin, and Chelsea came back. Haha. We watched some Conan and tried to do some dance moves and we talked about what the next fashion trend would be. My vote is on bright solid colors mixed together. It combines the layering trend as well as sort of hipster and mod. I'm all for color. Robin made us tea and during my company break I cleaned up a little.

But all good things must come to pass and they left. But all in all it was a wonderful Birthday. The perfect amount of people and great company they were. A good long shindig with lots of treats and talks. Not so much a Birthday party but just using it as an excuse to gather. It was wonderful. My 20th is starting on a great note. Whooo!!!



Fun Party Tip: When serving cupcakes, don't ice them. Have a couple kinds of icing and many types of sprinkles out and let your guests decorate it how they wish! Much fun will be had.

cops

Last night while I was trying to sleep, the boys in 410 were having a party. At around 3:30ish there was an exceedling loud drunk guy yelling and shouting and stomping about. They are normally loud but this guy was just excessive and sort of scary...I didn't want to go up there.

Thankfully, not too long after I heard a cop car. I could see the lights from my window. The people up stairs got really quiet and there was one loud, authoritative voice I could almost make out. A little while later it was just one guy stomping around upstairs.

Hurray.

blood sugar

So I made the Jello and I had some left over. It was 12oz of Jello powder mixed with about three cups of water and a can of condensed milk. I had some left over so I decided to drink it. It was sooo thick. Like...I could feel the sugar slide down my throat. It would have made great mock fake blood. Uhhg disgusting.

I had a late start today. Just could not get out of bed, I was so comfy and relaxed and warm. But it didn't really affect my cooking schedule. Made a run for groceries and made banana bread. Mel came home so I visited with her a little bit while the bread baked. Then as I made cupcakes I prepared the gyoza. I have about 35-50 ready for the party tomorrow. I packaged and froze the remaining filling and made a batch to eat for dinner. In the past 24 hours, I must have eaten about 50 gyoza. Blimey. Fixed up the Jello and then made a late night second run for drinks. Jones Soda in a can! WHoo. From about 4:00-10:00 was spent in various stages of shopping and preparing.

At about 10:45, Lindsay and I walked around our apartment banging the ceiling with sticks.

Got caught up watching Lasagna Cat and Twin Peaks. Uhg, I am SO SICK OF JAMES!! And what, what is Billy Zane doing in the show? Huh.

Party party party tomorrow. Then the next day, I am 20.

om nom nom (gyoza edition)

I made Gyoza tonight! Whoo! Llyw gave me a recipe and I thought it would be a good thing to make for my birthday. Spent a lot of time shopping at Fred Meyer, probably more than I should have. I was buying vegetables and I became aware of the fact that I wasn't really clear what certain vegetables look like. Namely green onions. I found them eventually, as with all the other ingredients. All in all, it didn't cost too much to get the supplies for a quadruple recipe that will last for hundreds and hundreds of gyoza. I'll probably run out of wrappers first...have to pick up some more tomorrow. Took me about an hour from boiling the cabbage first to frying up the initial batch. A long time sure, but the second batch took about fifteen minutes to make. The time consuming part is mixing the filling, and if you make tons of it then you are set for a week's worth of tasty gyoza. And let me tell you, they were TASTY! Fried up quick, came off hot and juicy. I'll have to make up tons of them tomorrow so they will be ready to fry up day of. Whoo!!

Today I rolled out of bed with the aid of my alarm clock. I have to get myself on a schedule again. I rolled out of bed and then made a nest for myself on the couch and started reading Persepolis. Before I knew it, I was over halfway done and it was 3:00pm. I had stuff to do! So I got cleaned up, wrote up my grocery list, and nabbed my paycheck to deposit. Easy enough to deposit it at key bank. I was planning to go to Trader Joe's for the gyoza fixings but Fred Meyers was right there.

Persepolis is fantastic. I wish I knew more of the history that went along with the story. Brilliant and poignant and very important in the terms of right now. Highly suggested for anyone who reads.

After the gyoza I watched some Twin Peaks. I am so sick of the James story line right now, every time it switches to him I wish I could fast forward but I have no idea if all this stuff will end up being important or not. Only a couple episodes left.

seriously

Felt a little ill at the start of the day but I think that was due to lack of food. Once I got a banana and sandwich in me I perked right up.

Mum woke me up with a call and not too long after her call, I got one from PNCA. Apparently they had a package for me. From mom.

I was already planning a trip to PNCA today and the package gave me another reason to go down. I severely miss-gauged how cold it was outside and even with three layers, a scarf and gloves, I was still freezing. Still a nice ride, what with the tires being inflated nicely. Mom had put my apartment number on the package, but the schools address instead. Still, they were nice about holding it for me and I chatted with Rachel Allen a wee bit. I picked up my paycheck and headed off to Big Finnegan's. There I bought an Apples to Apples expansion set. Love that game.

Once at home, I proceeded to waste another day of my vacation. But I am feeling better. It is a cross between a chill and spewing out the phlegm I acquired while being back at home. Watched Hard Candy. Yeah...that movie really sticks with you. Crazy intense and the two actors were brilliant, considering the quality of the film rested on how they interacted (as there was a grand total of five characters in the whole movie, the other three barely getting more than two minutes of screen time). The color of the film was just beautiful, it really made me uneasy with all the strong reds and blues. Amazing. Can't say it is for everyone but still...wow.

Also I am once again in the mood for Twin Peaks. Yay for Dale Cooper!

Had a serious talk with Lindsay tonight. About serious stuff. Hhmm.

who would want to rent a chicken?

Whee today was fun. Like I said, Michael was going to come over and he did. He showed up near to seven but he stuck around till 1:00 am so it was a good visit. We watched Mystery Men and he lent me a couple movies (I am lending him some Red Dwarf as well). I made fettuccine with Alfredo and shrimp sauce for dinner and it was almost as good as before. The shrimp were not perfectly fresh anymore. Not bad but...not great.

But yeah, we hung out and chatted. Nice to be in the position where hanging out with friends is easy to do. Don't have to travel an hour and a half to Seattle or brave the ice of Seabeck. Cities are awesome for friendships.

Before that I just cleaned up the place a little. Felt woozy in the morning. Stayed up late, slept in. Might start getting some work on projects done in the next couple days.

Oh, and my birthday. It is sort of coming together a little...maybe.

wibbly woobly woo

I got out and exercised today. Boy am I sore! Had a slow start but the day went pretty quick once I finally left the apartment.

Road down Couch to Floating World Comics. Jason wasn't in, that other guy who I remember from Stumptown Comics Fest was there instead. I picked up Persepolis (discount because I am awesome), The Boys and Doktor Sleepless. The most recent Boys story arc hasn't really interested me. Lots of tack, not a lot of butt kicking. I think the next one will have more. Oh and where is Daniel Robertson? He can't just...draw two pages and call it quits! Okay sure I know he is doing another comic now and still finds time to do covers for the Boys...but still! Wee Hughie doesn't look like Simon Pegg without him.

After the comic shop (I also ordered some sleeves and boards, can you believe it, I'm out!) I filled my tires up at the bike shop. Went from 20 whatevers to 50-60 whatevers. They were really deflated.

My legs were all wibbly after the ride and now they are sore. Need to get back into bike shape.

Karen stopped by and we talked for a bit. She is the new RA. She won't take no guff from no one!

Two days in a row I munch and munch all day long and I never seem to get full. The banana bread I made (see above photo, taken by my Pa) seems to have topped me off though.

Michael is coming over tomorrow.

teen countdown: one week left

Egads! I just looked at myself in the mirror and surprise surprise...I look twenty! Blimey. Only a week left to be a teenager. I should steal a car or something.

Lazy day spent inside. It was also raining so that wouldn't have been much enjoyment to go out in.

I watched Shoot Em' Up. Really enjoyable actually. Lots of gun fighting and one liners. Generic over-the-top action but executed really well and with lots of enthusiasm. Before that I watched a British documentary about Autism.

After all that I finished reading The Mourning Star volume one. I really should email Kaz...ehh. I will eventually.

Lindsay brought home some Cinnabon for breakfast. I horfed down my whole bun. It quite amazed her. She is so cool to feed me like that.

Also watched some Whose Line is it Anyway. Yay for Youtube.

sloooowing doooown

Dad caught his train outta here just fine. A little better than fine as we got to the station super early. He played Tetris while we waited and did quite well. Nice to have visitors in quaint Portland.

Slacked off for the rest of the day. I visited PNCA and pulled my comic from the wall and walked a little more than half the way home before catching the streetcar.

Munched on food and watched Dreamcatcher. Like the original novel, I lost interest in both at the same point but because the movie would have only taken me an hour to finish, while the book about 10...I finished the movie. Disappointing ending, well...the whole movie is sort of lame. They kill off likable characters once they have served their purpose and then introduce intolerable characters to finish off the movie. I guess I'm glad a few people survived but ultimately...meh.

Nice to relax and not be out and about.

walking in white

Today was spent on our feet. Dad put the second (back) fender on my bike, baked up some cinnamon twists, and away we were! We made our way to the bike shop first, for some bolts for my bike. The thing got a super tune up today. All it needs now is more air in its tires.

After the bike shop, we hopped on the max and rode it to the mall. We wandered, picked up some mixing bowls, picked up some shoes for me (WHITE HIGH TOPS!! YEAAH!!), batteries, measuring bowl, and we grabbed some lunch from a 50's diner place. Pretty nice trip out and about. Rode the max back and got off to look at the bike pumps at the store and bought some food stuffs for my birthday (more Jell-o and condensed milk).

We got home and lounged about. I put gel inserts into my new shoes and they feel great. I am so gellin'. We watched some dvd's and I made some of my prized banana bread. Now we are going out to see the late showing of I'm Not There at Fox Tower 10.

daddums in PDX

Dad is visiting this weekend. Very awesome thing that is. Haven't had a day off to kick up my feet and sit back since I returned. Busy busy busy, running around...seeing all sorts of people. It is great.

I received my grades in the mail yesterday. B+ in Art History (better than I expected), A in 2D (considerably better), A in Drawing (expected), A- in Digital Tools (not so happy with that but I guess my video project wasn't up to snuff), and a VERY amazing A+ in Time Arts. I didn't know they gave A+'s. Yeah. I'm awesome like that. Go me! So my GPA right now is 3.8. Very good! Sure I'm no mom with her 4.0's all across the board but 3.8 at fancy pantsy art school. Damned awesome thing that is.

Left at 2:00 to pick dad up at the train station. Got there a wee bit early and I read magazines until the lady in the shop came over and said "we have a sign", indicating the "no reading in shop" sign. So I left, I wasn't going to buy a magazine. They are meant for browsing, not seriously buying. Bleh. Dad's train was a wee bit late. He arrived safe and sound, having also seen Across The Universe on the train. He had headphones so he could enjoy it.

We took the Max home, stopping briefly at Pioneer Courthouse Square to pick up some delicious Cheesesteak Sandwiches. We nibbled on them at home and then we put on the front fender. Fits perfectly!

After the fender, it was decided to head to Powell's for some expenditures. We meandered our way there; checking out a few buildings and things on the way (like the bronze horse outside the museum). Powell's was moderately crowded but provided a good selection. We picked up some boating books, a music book, and a book book for me. Very awesome. The streetcar was arriving just as we got out. We swung by Safeway on the way home and did some grocery shopping for dinner.

Not being hungry right away, we made Jell-o in the Jell-o mold I got for my birthday (I opened it early). Spilled a great deal of Jell-o but it seems to have turned out fairly well. Tomorrow we shall remove it from its mold.

Dad and I finished watching the Futurama movie and moved on to Love Actually. In the middle of it we made dinner. Well I did the majority of it but dad certainly helped in the end. We had fettuccine Alfredo with little shrimp tossed in. I have enough for another two-person dinner.

Movie finished up, I tucked dad into bed and now it is time for me to sleep as well. We got a big day ahead of us. Starting with breakfast!

being out and about is awesome

Another day back home. Another day spent out and about. Another day spent with Michael. Another day well spent. Whoo!

Lazed about in the morning, watched a little Love Actually while my mind got in gear. Made a grocery run (bananas, juice, apples, bread etc.). After the grocery run I gave Michael a jingle and went to catch the Max. Transferred from the Max to buy a ticket and wait for a Yellow line to show up. There was a lady mumbling and some really "Seabeck" looking people on it (if you get my drift). Otherwise an effortless travel.

We just hung out at his (and Matt and Andy's) place and watched movies and TV. Watched 5th Element (awesome) and Galaxy Quest (also awesome, and this time I looked for the line they dubbed over to make it PG). Good movies. Watched my first episode of the insanely cheesy Supernatural as well (and I mean cheesy). It is nice to just hang about outside of Goose Hollow. There is a lot to be had else where.

Dad is visiting for the weekend so that is VERY cool. Hopefully he will cook me lots of delicious meals.

Oh and I got my rainpants in the mail today!! Thanks Celia! Looooove yooooou!! ♥♥♥

in demand lady

While I was away there were several people who inquired about my return to Portland. These people were Michael and Jim. I managed to fit in a visit with both of them yesterday.

Slept in and lazed about. Michael came over and we hung about while we decided which movie to go see. We settled on seeing Sweeny Todd and so away we went. He was unaware it was a musical and so I don't think he liked it as much. I think that it would have done well to have those little sing-along lines to go with the film. I think it would have been more fun that way. The gore was silly and the costumes were cool. An average Tim Burton flick. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop and sat about and chatted about our breaks and whatnot. We came back to my place and watched an episode of Red Dwarf.

At 9:00pm I sent him on his way and traded him for Jim, who ended up spending the night. Wouldn't have been very nice to visit for an hour and send him on his way. We nabbed some pizza before it closed and hung about and chatted. Also wouldn't have been very nice to ignore him while I wrote about my day. I just sent him on his way and oh dang I forgot to give both him and Michael some peanut brittle. Well, it's not going anywhere.

Anywhoo. No plans for today. I don't think Michael is getting up to anything so I think I'll shower, make a grocery run, and call him and see what's what.

wake, move, clean, sleep

I'm back in Portland, safe and sound. Lindsay was home when I got in and she gave me a full report on some of the stuff I had left behind. I was planning to clean up anyway; she just gave me the nudge. She also cleaned up the rest of the place while I was gone so my room looked even more terrible compared. But now it is all nice and neat! And should stay that way until we both start the new semester. Lindsay is in my Experiments in Drawing class so that will be fun. Need to go shopping for food tomorrow. We are very low on the good stuff. I have plenty of the sweet stuff (four bars of chocolate from Christmas) just need the healthy stuff.

Woke up this morning to more snow. It was mushy so getting out wasn't a problem. The roads improved eventually and Dad and I arrived in Tacoma with an hour to spare. As it turned out my train was delayed so what was one hour ended up being two. We saw Nathan and delivered him his tables and we grabbed some quick fast food eats. I wasn't feeling too well but that was probably the lack of sleep.

The train ride was...interesting. They played Across the Universe but I didn't have headphones so I couldn't hear the songs (which are the focal point of the movie). A woman also was writhing, talking and moaning to herself. She didn't seem to be in immediate peril so much as just having a few screws loose (and those screws had supported a whole load of scaffolding).

Arrived fine; my box lugged well enough to the cab waiting spot. Took a while for enough cabs to show up for everyone but one eventually did for me. The driver was very nice and helpful. Not the worst way to travel though I do prefer it when Michael gives me a lift.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking, cleaning, more unpacking, and catching up. I'm glad to be back here. Rain > snow.

double dose of long legs

Nicholas Cage double feature today; Lord of War and Gone in Sixty Seconds. Enjoyed Gone in Sixty Seconds more than I thought I would (honestly I just have it for Christopher Eccleston). My seat almost had me on the edge of it during the final car chase. Angelina Jolie and Timothy Olyphant could have been in more scenes but hey, you can't have everything. Lord of War was kind of what I expected it to be. I wasn't moved and didn't really have any sympathy for the lead. I wonder if that was how you were supposed to feel, that this was an evil person existing in the world. Hmmn. Almost watched Raising Arizona to make it a triple feature.

Still sick. All stuffed up and coughy. Was in front of the fire all day again. Someone has to keep it going.

My bag is packed and most of my miscellaneous items are assembled. I head out for Portland at 10:00am tomorrow. Probably should get up at 8:00am. Bleh. Oh well. The time to get on a better sleep schedule is now.

winter ills

I leave for Portland on Tuesday. My vacation home is almost over. Haven't started packing but that shouldn't take exceedingly long.

I'm not feeling well today. Been woozy and tired and sneezy since I crawled out of bed. So I just spent the day in front of the fire keeping warm. Cozied up with my new awesome mobius scarf.

Drew a little in my sketchbook and watched Flight of the Phoenix. Okay movie, better than I expected and Hugh Laurie was very awesome.

Don't think I need more rest, maybe just more warmth.

one side/infinate sides

Whooo!! Dorothy gave me a righteous and totally sweet mobius scarf. She knitted it herself! How cool is that?

So yeah, went to Seattle today. Hopped on the good ol' Bainbridge Ferry. Rainy and gray day but thankfully we were driving around so all was good. We went to Archie McPhee's to pick up some birthday stuff and other things. They don't really have a nice set up there; more of a place for people to get what they know they want as opposed to browsing. We went to an electric bike shop next, not for me but for mom and dad. They want fancy new bikes that do the work for them.

After a little bit of tiffage we went to get some fish & chips. After that it was a Danish bakery and then to Jeanette & co.'s.

Their house was very cute. Liam is definitely a young boy now. Exchanged some gifts (got the new Michael Chabon novel, sweeet!) and I showed off my drawing portfolio. Dan and Dorothy showed up and we went through my portfolio again. Really happy with the work that I did in that class. Have to do something nice with the choice pieces. It was a wonderful visit; seeing all the people. Ate some tasty cake and drank some tasty tea. We bid adieu and went to catch a ferry.

Listened to Jack Flanders and dozed off. Now I am watching Eastern Promises. It is okay thus far. Not really mom and dads thing but seems all right.

snow, ice, rain, wind and darkness

The power went out last night. It only was out for about forty-five minutes but for some reason my computer was unable to connect to the Internet when it returned.

Yesterday I left the house again (amazing! I know!). Dad and I went to the Verizon store to see about upgrading my phone but there wasn't a free upgrade. I don't need a fancy phone but even the less fancy phones were still pricey. Don't know why they don't have better deals but then again most people probably buy the fancy phones because they think they need them. Consumerism blah blah blah.

After Verizon we went to the mall to see about a haircut for dad. The wait was exceedingly long so we walked to Walden's and looked around their shelves a bit. After that we got some hot dogs from a new place in the mall and I proceeded to bite a chunk out of my cheek as well as the hot dog. Ouch.

We then met up with mom to go swimming and the Club. Well, we spent more time in the hot tub than in the pool. I am really out of swimming shape. Well, I haven't really broken out in a sweat since I arrived here. After that we went home.

Dad and I stretched some canvas across some frames that he built. I made some more peanut brittle and then we watched Wilde. As the name gives it away it is indeed a biopic about Oscar Wilde. Stephen Fry was quite awesome in the role, as was Jude Law. We haven't watched the last 15 minutes of the movie because that is when the power cut out.

it better be a stage name...

Stay up late.
Sleep in late.
Spend about ten hours lounging about watching TV and movies.
Go to bed.
Try to sleep.
Repeat.

I will be going home a little earlier than I originally thought. I don't think I can spend another week doing nothing up here. It is time to return to Portland.

Celia came over for a lovely visit. We ate some spaghetti and watched an episode of QI on youtube. Then we watched a few minutes of Nip/Tuck and then decided to watch some of Celia's Netflix movies.

First up was the Devil Wears Prada. Not really my type of movie and I only sort of payed attention to it out of the corner of my eye. Better than I expected it to be but still pretty much what I thought it would be. Some really cute outfits. As the credits went by Celia gasped and started saying my name. I looked up and she was pointing out that my name was RIGHT THERE in the credits!! Trillian! Head Seamstress! Blimey!

It wasn't all that late when we finished that one so we watched another movie. This choice was Gia, an HBO biopic with Angelina Jolie as the model who died from AIDS. Yeah. It was depressing. The actress who plays Juliet on Lost was in it and she was awesome. Jolie is talented at playing crazy people. She is also purdy.

Now to relax, sip some tea, watch Zoolander and eventually go to bed.

return by date

Had a nice sleep in today. Better enjoy it while I can. I'm returning to Portland in about a week (next Thursday I think).

Went to the movies with parents today. We say the new National Treasure movie. It was pretty much exactly like the first one just with a different goal and some more characters. Not really gripping-the-seat tense action but after you have seen No Country for Old Men nothing is really quite as nail biting. It was okay I guess.

We did some quick shopping and went home. Ate some steak, mashed potatoes and peas and chilled out for the night.

Tomorrow I will be hanging out with Auntie Celia. 18 days left in my vacation.

hang out (verb)

The last time I was in Seattle was for the MFA trip and that time I managed to see Llyw. This Seattle trip was no exception; minus the art museums.

Took a little effort to get my car out of the icy driveway but the main roads were peachy. Parked and payed at Bainbridge Island. Nine bucks for all day parking. NINE BUCKS! That is almost ten.

Read some of Mourning Star on the quick ride over and Llyw was there about a minute after I got off the ferry.

With no real plans we set out towards Uwajimaya. The walk took less time than I remember it taking (maybe he knew a quicker route). Didn't spend much time there; picked up some snackums and that was pretty much it. There were no movies to be seen so we just headed to his place to hang out. I brought along my external hard drive and put some various things from his computer onto it. Sweet thing to have.

While those things were loading we went out for lunch for some delicious fast food. I have never had Jack-In-The-Box before, and if I had it has been years and years. It was pretty tasty stuff. After lunch we settled down into watching DVD's via way of his awesome projector. The main selection for the rest of the day was Wonderfalls (with one episode of Spaced thrown in). Great show, I can see why it got cancelled as it was an hour long show before the slightly surreal hour long shows achieved the larger audience. It has notoriety now.

After we finished the first disc we sat about and talked and chatted and even conversed a little. Time flew by while the time to catch the bus downtown crept up on us.

I missed my bus to take me to the 9:00 ferry so Caleb gave me a lift to the dock to catch the 9:45 (Llyw tagged along on the ride).

Goodbyes and hugs were exchanged and I went up to the near deserted terminal, bought my ticket, and waited for the ferry to come in. Read a little more Mourning Star. The drive home went really well; the roads were hardly iced over and traffic was minimal. Even the driveway ice seems to be melting.

Super fun day. It is great to get out of the house and to see old friends. But now I am really feeling the want to return to Portland.

start with a tune and a delayed bang

2008 is upon us! Whoo! Two-oh-oh-eight. I will be Twenty. Out of my teens. Out of adolescence, childhood, and all that other stuff. I will be in my TWENTIES this year. YEE-HAW! And I will be starting my Illustration program at PNCA so that is awesome.

The fireworks at the Space Needle on TV might have been more impressive if they had synced up to the music instead of having "computer glitches" and not go off for minutes at a time. Still nice. We lit some crackers, bottle rockets and sparklers. We used up our good fireworks last Fourth of July.

I was trying to pull an all-nighter so that I could readjust my sleep schedule (I've been staying up past 2am and sleeping in till past noon) but at 6:30 am I fell asleep and woke up a little before 2. Oh well.

Went into town with the parents to do some shopping. I picked out my major (and most likely only) birthday present: a 320 GB external hard drive. Now my laptop won't be all full up! Before I had 7.25 GB free and now I have 57.7 free. Huzzah! My hard drive is a thing of beauty. At Best Buy I ran into Chris and we chatted briefly. Oh I also got some Pixi Stix. Yumm!

After some late lunch and grocery shopping we went home. I moved my computer files around and finished binding my book. It looks a little clumsy and shoddy but I am going to say that it makes it have "character". The paper I used for the cover turned out nice. Can't wait to see it tomorrow after it has finished drying in the press.

Going to Seattle tomorrow. Anti-hermit activities.

Happy New Year Everybody! Here is to another year of art, new friendships, scrubbed bathrooms, frustrations, and achievements.