marcus or not marcus?

Turns out the Film Directing test was a take home one. I was ready to take it in class. Oh well.

Had a little breakfast. It was a nice day. Can't be many nice days left. Almost done with The Hobbit. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is next.

We discussed editing in class all day and looked at production schedules. It is amazing how just a general over view of film direction is still just scratching the surface. It was an excellent fast class. Chatted with the fella in front of me. I'm unsure of his name, but I've seen more Nicolas Winding Refn movies than he has.

Went home straight after class. Tomorrow I shall go to school and work in the labs and make some Flash and Illustrator assignment progress.

Another night spent...in mostly waste. Damn it Trillian, get your stuff together!

Dinner was pasta salad and chowder. I like mom's soup better.

Just going to finish this episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the Jeremy Brett Sherlock casting, not Robert Downey Jr or Benedict Cumberbatch) and go to bed. Thursdays make me tired. Got a busy weekend coming up though. Yay, doing stuff!

Todays Portrait Is: Mary Shelley.

hark! a book!

Slept in a bit, but got to class just fine. Illustrator was another lecture and then work time. Knocked out a good chunk of the assignment. Friday or Saturday I'll probably be at school all day and work on that and the Flash assignment.

We actually got assigned something in Flash! Time to look at tutorials and teach myself. The teacher actually said that Garageband is perfectly acceptable software for music editing and that After Effects isn't that good for animation. WHAAAATTTT? I got taught a little bit of After Effects and was able to whip out some good stuff, no problem. This class, NOTHING. Nothing at all. And Garageband is hideous and...no just no. All sorts of wrong.

Got home. Wasted time. My Kate Beaton book came in the mail!! Yaaay! Dinner was chicken and vegetables. Mmm. I finished up the alphabet. All though I'll probably fix a few letters. But I got it done. Yaay. Typeface!

I think I want to make a series of illustrations of detective. Like an alphabet. W for Wallander. S for Sherlock. L is for Luther. Need to fill in the blanks.

Todays Portrait Is: Ayn Rand.

leech

Got up a little bit earlier today and had a meager breakfast. No school today, so I wasted my time inside as I usually do. The sun came out for a brief moment, so we took that opportunity to wash Holly. Used the new dog shampoo and gave her two nice lathers. She is so fluffy when she is washed and dried.

Dinner was burritos. Mmm. Dessert was, well I won't say what Mom and Dad served me but it wasn't very nice at all!

So I spent the night working on my type face and watching this and that. It started raining again.

Got class tomorrow. And after class, I shall work on my Illustrator stuff.

Back into the swing of things!

Todays Portrait Is: Friedrich Nietzche.

the buffalo roam...in my stomach

Decided to let myself sleep in, instead of setting an alarm at around 9.

Rolled out of bed near to one. Ha.

Had some toast and tea and dawdled around on the internet. Later on, Ma and I hauled my stuff out of the minibarn. Some things were starting to get moldy (chair, suitcase). Books went to my library in the new addition, some knick knacks and nail polish I sorted into my stuff. Clothes and other odds and ends went into the cabin, where they wouldn't be exposed to so much dampness. Need to dig out my sweaters now that it is sweater weather. Left some of my shelves and cookery in the mini barn. My art went near my desk upstairs. And then, it was dinner time!

We had buffalo patties with potatoes and beets from our garden, with our special apple juice. No wonder buffalo were hunted so much, they are DELICIOUS! Tasty big dinner. Mmm. Ma and I soaked in the hot tub for a bit.

I sorted through my computer files. Since I dug out my nail polishes, I spent the night doing a nice and proper pedicure and manicure. Base coat, red, gold, and top coat on my finger nails. Base coat, dark maroon, gold, and top coat on my toes. Looks really nice. Here is hoping it isn't chipped by morning.

Tomorrow is a holiday, which will be spent working on a typeface that I am behind on. Eeesh.

Todays Portrait Is: Anne McCaffrey.

second verse, not same as the first

Three Saturday's in a row I have been in Seattle. Blimey.

At 9am, dad said "APPLES!" and I went back to sleep.

A bit later, Holly chased some German Shepards off the property and I went back to sleep.

Then I got up, showered, grabbed a granola bar and some Propel water stuff and got to helping mom and dad with the apple juice. We did four pressings I reckon. Lots and lots of apple juice. I put some in smaller bottles to take to Seattle in present form.

I parked in Bremerton and rode the 1:45 ferry over. It was a lovely nice beautiful day. First on the itinerary was meeting up with Sam for a bit, but he wasn't at his place till 4ish, so I wandered around Pike's Place. Found what seems to be a good book about Houdini. Then I caught the 26 to Fremont. There were some Occupy Wallstreet protesters, so that was cool to see. Viva Occupy!

I got off the bus in downtown Fremont and used my memory of last weekend to navigate to his apartment, and I did it flawlessly! No wrong turns. Just straight, right, straight, left, straight and BOOM, found it. No address, just memory. I met his roommate Brenda and I gave them some delicious apple juice. It got some nice compliments. Because our juice is awesome.

For the next couple hours, Sam and I played Agricola and caught up on the events of the last week. I lost horribly at Agricola, and Sam played what was probably his best game yet.

The rest of my day's plan was to navigate my way to Serenity, who I knew to be in Seattle but I didn't know where she would be.

Sam was going to a Sounders game, so we parted ways in Downtown Seattle after taking the bus out of Fremont.

I then learned that Serenity had drink plans at 9:30 in Ballard. So 1) I would have been better off staying put in Fremont and 2) Ballard is too far out to have drinks at 9:30 when you have to catch a ferry back and the latest ferry is at 12:50, which doesn't give that much time for late night bus connections. I don't have a smart phone so I was unable to figure out routes and times, so I decided I wouldn't be able to meet Serenity. Boo. Oh well. Lesson learned, make sure you know where your friend is, before you go and visit. Still, I had a nice time wandering around Seattle. Swung by the Occupy Seattle people. One guy was shouting which was a bit distracting from the main organizer lady. The bicycle cops were very low key. They were there just there as a presence but not a threat.

I got some Ivar's and read The Sisters Brothers while waiting for the ferry. I napped on the ferry on the way back. Disappointing that I didn't get more out of my visit to Seattle, but totally fine to get out the house and just walk around.

Todays Portrait Is: Jonathan Safran Foer.

my mouff

Slept in as late as possible, which wasn't that late and a bit too late as it turned out. Didn't wash my hair. Drank some tea, ate some oatmeal, and then it was out the door!

We went to Walgreen's and the lady at the drive through pharmacy said my antibiotics prescription wasn't ready, so we waited and then on the second attempt with a different person and inside the store, it turned out it was ready. I took my dose, which was considerably less than the hour previous to appointment than it should have been. Still, once in the dentist's chair, they were nice and waited a bit before starting. I got a filling in my upper right and two in my lower left. The numbing stuff worked fantastically and my lip was all sorts of funky. The drilling and filling went well. Dentist Connors complimented my tattoo.

Ma picked me up and paid. Wobbly lipped, I begged to go to Trader Joe's and mom obliged. Snack run! And treats and good food. Going to try those wasabi seaweed snacks. We swung by Arby's for some lunch. Trying to eat a burger with a numb mouth is hilariously frustrating. Couldn't quite properly chew it. Ha.

Relaxed while the numbness wore off. Then Mom and I painted the pump house a fetching blue and yellow color. I wanted to do stripes but mom said no. Boo!

I wasted a lot of time on the Internet.

I might be in Seattle AGAIN tomorrow, because Serenity is in town. I need to be as social as possible lest I go crazy. But I may just catch the late Bremerton ferry back instead of staying the night somewhere. Who knows? Sometimes I wish I had a smart phone, because those are really useful for things like bus routes and times. But I don't, so I'll just have to figure it out.

Todays Portrait Is: Elie Wiesel.

four day weekend!

Hauled out of bed at around 10. Showered. Decided to put my hair into curlers, just for fun. Had a toaster strudel and some tea.

Class was class. Ever filled with learning about key lights and fill lights and all that jazz. Watched a couple featurettes about the camera crews and all that. So much complex set up stuffs. The teacher gave a good rant about Occupy Wall Street. That class always ends too soon.

Listened to more The Hobbit as I went home. Put my feet up. Relaxed. Ate a sandwich.

Mom and I watched Mars Attacks and ate soup and salad.

Tomorrow I get three cavities filled. Yay.

Todays Portrait Is: Shel Silverstein.

funnel the fury

Illustrator class was voted in as a work day, and so I worked! Had to redo a couple little things, but for good reason. The teacher gives good prompt concise feedback and is available if you need help.

In Flash I took notes on her lecture. I timed how long she ranted about this and that. Took note of her tangent starts. And made little stars next to the parts where she actually started discussing Flash. Now we don't even seem to have a midterm. Just a motion graphic and one big project. WHAT THE HELL? I AM HERE TO LEARN LOTS OF STUFF, NOT TWO THINGS! But timing and taking notes helped center my rage. And it kept me entertained for the two and a half hours of lecture. GUhh.

Halfway through The Hobbit now. And the good thing is, I'm not burning gas like I used to, since I'm driving four days a week instead of the six or so I used to commute last I went to Olympic College. So I don't need to refuel that often. Though this weekend I think I'll spend some time in the lab. Have to do my Illustrator project. No class Monday!!

Ma and Pa might go camping. I think I'll sit this one out.

Dinner was delicious fish and broccoli and rice. Mmm! Ma and I watched a couple Futurama episodes, then she watched some old movie and I watched some Sherlock and whatnots. Then at 9:30pm was another new fantastic episode of Raising Hope! Have I mentioned that it is a good show? Because it is.

I have no concept of reasonable bed hours.

Todays Portrait Is: Douglas Coupland.

up early one day, up late the next

The day started nice and then went gray and rainy later on. Boo.

Had tea and oatmeal before heading off to class. We studied more of the different art production roles and different supervisors on set and looked at script supervisors notes. The class is so packed with lecture and then it seems to end so fast. Need to look over my notes.

Buuhhh more Flash class tomorrow.

Up late finishing some portraits.

Watched some Futurama. Chicken, bread, and root beer floats for dinner! Glee was cute. Mom and I sat through New Girl and it actually improved a bit. Raising Hope was hilaaaarious, as usual. And there is a new episode tomorrow! Wheee!

Todays Portrait Is: Nick Hornby.

I'm at my ends with Claudine

Uhg. I totally loathe this Flash class. I'd learn more if I just looked at online tutorials. Which will be what I end up doing. There isn't anything really assigned except to play with the technology and show you know how to use this and that. GUhhhhh.

Made myself a thermos of tea. Mmm.

Illustrator was a good class. Got a live trace lecture and the next set of assignments. Excited for this. Going to learn how to draw stuff in vectors. Booyah! Finished up my assignment. I need to spend some extra time working. During the weekend.

But yeah, Flash. BLEH. She showed us a show reel from when she taught at NWCA (Northwest College of Art, a Poulsbo school). Ahhh man, Rose Bond is such a good teacher. Our animation class was the bomb, and so much better than what I saw on that reel. It probably is her as a teacher, not the students. And technology was way different six years ago. Still, I am not enjoying her methods. I think I'll try and do a sort of...motion comic for my midterm.

Ma and pa came home later on. Dad made pot stickers. We three got into a fight about tattoos. I was right. They were wrong.

This season of Downton Abbey is REALLY good.

Todays Portrait Is: Albert Camus.

people of the law

Uhg, I feel a bit ill. Need to eat more. All alone here in Seabeck. Anywaaay.

Saturday:

Got up and showered and packed for my night in Seattle. It was a nice day, but I still threw on a light sweater under my trademark leather jacket. Parked in a garage at the Bremerton ferry. A mutt dog with no name tag followed me for a few blocks before wandering off elsewhere. I ran into an old high school chum on the ferry: Amber Parypa! She, her boyfriend, and I sat and caught up and discussed old times, or rather discussed trying to remember anything that happened in High School. It was a really unremarkable time at Klahowya Secondary School.

It was sprinkling lightly when I got off the ferry, but nothing too inconvenient. Sam and I walked up to Pike's Place Market. I bought some doughnuts to eat. So good. We saw the gum wall, which was gross and interesting. Then we caught the bus into Fremont. He lives just a couple blocks from the Fremont Troll. It is a really nice little apartment. Cozy. His roommate wasn't there.

Sam introduced me to a new game called Agricola. It is Dominion meets Settlers of Catan meets...something else. Lots of set up, but once I got the rules it was pretty fun. By the time you start getting ahead in the game, it is over. A big balancing act. We played several games of it, and then Sam made curry for dinner. It was delicccious. Chicken and rice and potatoes and mushrooms. So much good stuff. After dinner, we caught a bus into the North East U District to go to a classmate of his' house party. It took a lot of walking around to find the apartment, but it was a nice night for it.

At the party I met Evan, Chris, John, Jason, and Brittany. Look how good I am with names! Drank some beer, ate some chips, talked about what law they are all going into, talked about Washington. We migrated to a pub and had a delicious round there. I really liked how social they all were. I'm missing that. The people in my OC classes are not so social. I try to be friendly. Try really hard. It just ain't working. Meh oh well.

We caught the bus back into Fremont.

Sunday:

Sam used some leftovers and sausage to make a delicious scramble. By the time we finished eating it, and took a gander at the ferry schedule, it was time to head downtown! Left him in Fremont and got on the bus to the ferry. Played on the portable Nintendo on the way back. Filled my gas tank up and headed home.

Ma and Pa are at Pulali tonight, so it is just me in this big old house. I didn't feel so good, so I nibbled on food and wrapped myself up in a blanket and settled in for some television. Dexter, Breaking Bad, and so on.

Another school week starts. Not so enthused. Hope I feel better tomorrow.

Saturday's Portrait is: Robert Anton Wilson.

Sunday's Portrait is: Craig Thompson.

monochromatically speaking...

It is late and I am tired from doing nothing all day.

Slept in, as I deserved to do. Had a meager breakfast followed by fudge. Did my laundry. Did a late in the day portrait. Dad came home. We talked a little bit but then he had to snooze.

Had some chips and hummus. And more fudge. Watched Community with mom. Watched Pillars of the Earth and Fringe by myself. I'm amazed that hours just sort of...slip away after 11pm. Where did they go?

I'm spending the night in Seattle tomorrow, so there will be no post. But there will be a portrait. I'm in the last third of the project now. It still isn't any easier. All though rather, some of the techniques are not getting any easier. Whenever my work is unsatisfactory, I change styles or scale and often it works again. Did three portraits in a row that I am very pleased with, and I did them in not that much time either.

Todays Portrait Is: Michael Fassbender.

going to bathe Holly tomorrow

The sun came out again today! Hurray! Hauled out of bed at around 10. Had some oatmeal and tea. Ma was off doing something. Or was she home? No she was gone. Got to class on time. We went through the roles of producers and set designers and artistic direction in relationship to film making. It is spectacular that anything gets made at all! Takes so much coordination of intelligence to get it made.

Class got out a bit early because the teacher had a faculty meeting. It is such a quick class. I wish it was as long as Flash feels like.

More The Hobbit listening on the way home. Swung by Amy's Chocolate on the way out of Bremerton and bought a fancy salted caramel and some fudge. The caramel was faaantastic. Shared it with mom. The fudge is good. Not the best fudge I've had, but fudge is fudge.

Holly had a good vet visit. Gave her a brush. Watched some stuff.

Ma and I soaked in the hot tub for half an hour, and then watched Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was a fun little flick.

How did it get so late? Blimey!

Todays Portrait Is: Michael Pitt.

I'm a rebel

Fuuhhh I hate Monday/Wednesday morning get ups. But they quite nice when ma makes me a lunch. Mmm! What a great mother.

It was a studio work day, and so I worked on the stuff and got the first chapter's worth of work turned in. I was tired but trucked along. Forgot headphones. Class was dead silent.

Ate my sandwich between classes, right in front of the computer. Well not right in front. I was leaning back and was no way close to getting a cucumber on the keyboard. I so don't care about "no food in classrooms" rules. Whatever, just don't eat OVER the keyboard.

I was falling asleep nearly in Flash. Got a bunch more meandering stories, but we finally got a little bit more into the program. Enough to know how to make a ball move across the screen. But she isn't doing THAT good of an explanation. Hence the drifting off and trying really hard to keep focused. I really miss Rose Bond as a teacher. After Effects looks, and probably is, about 20 times more complex than Flash, but somehow they were able to effectively tutor us in that from no textbook. Bah.

I really need to haul my stuff out of the mini barn. I think I'll work on that Friday. Saturday night I'll be in Seattle. Want to get more of my books sorted. Work on the things that have a place to go. Plus I want some of my warmer/nicer clothes on hand. I'm trying to be fabulous here.

FINALLY watched Nicolas Winding Refn's film Bronson. Yup, such a solid director. Love him. Tom Hardy is a great actor too, nearly unrecognizable.

Ma watched a romantic comedy that didn't seem to be that remarkable.

So, tomorrow. School. Then gotta draw some more watercolors.

Todays Portrait Is: the scary weird floating head of Michael Shannon.

I miss coach

Slept in nice and cozy like till 10ish. Had some tea and oatmeal. Got to class right on time. I decided to sit in the back, for a change of pace. Near Rufus, Marcus, and Eli. Borrowed a pen from Rufus (he has a mighty beard). Film Directing was more good lecture about lenses and "the line" and stuff. Lots of note taking. The class goes by really fast, I wish it was longer than two hours. Especially since the classes that are nearly three hours each both draaaaaag on.

It was a nice day today. Sun and a bit of warmth.

So naturally I retreated to the computer right when I got home. Peeled myself away to watch another simple episode of Glee. Okay it isn't so wildly all over the place, but it still hasn't regained some of the fun the first season had. New Girl is un.watch.a.ble. Mom and I tried. I managed to force out a couple laughs, but it just is not a good show. Fox needs to cancel it and put back to back Raising Hope episodes. Now THAT is a hilarious awesome great show. Love it.

Crap, gotta get up early tomorrow. Baahh.

Todays Portrait Is: Charlotte Free.

boy I am tired...

It has been raining non stop all day. Hopefully that means I won't have to wash my car. ANYWAY, got up quite drudgingly. Stuffed my bag full of granola bars and almonds and set off in the rain to school. I leave for class at 9, so I can find parking without hassle, but this also means I arrive 30 minutes early. But that gave me time to notice somewhere along the line, the disc in my textbook had cracked. It is just the disc with files, so I copied them from someone else's disc for the purposes of the class.

We got a lecture on text and wrapping and kerning and leading for the first part of class, which was good. And then it moved into an open lab. I should bring some headphones to class, because it is way too silent in there. Tomorrow I'll work on finishing up the work, after class. All though I think we have lab time all day Wednesday. Hmm.

Anyway. Flash was long and dull. We got another endless lecture about teaching methods and technology. We got to see some past projects. Some were more impressive than others. This teacher, hopefully when she gets to teaching, she will be good, because right now the class just makes me boggle.

I put $20 worth of gas in my car, which didn't do much. Opened another account at the Kitsap Library, checked out The Hobbit and Palomar. Need some comics in my life again. And to start audiobooking it up again. Love me some audiobooks. I don't think I've listened or read The Hobbit. But I will now!

Watched Downton Abbey. Ate a nice salad and cous cous for dinner. I'm going to work on a typeface for Odd Owl, so that will be a great project. Now I just need to think about how to charge for it. How much does one charge for designing a type face? Hmm.

Todays Portrait Is: Gemma Ward.

walkies

Uhg just remembered I have class tomorrow. And it is late. Boooo. Oh well. I'll survive.

Slept way in. I fell asleep on my my arm so it didn't have any sense in it when I woke up. Or rather when it woke me up.

Had some toast and tea and finished watching Six Feet Under. The last of it. What a great show.

Showered. Nibbled on some cupcakes. Later in the afternoon, mom and I went to a park in Silverdale to take Holly for a walk. I think it was her first official on a leash in public type walk. Normally it is just to the end of the driveway and back. She did really well! Huffed a little at some people but smelt some dogs in a nice and pleasant manner. She is so mild tempered now. What a good old doggie.

Back at home I drew and watched telly and wasted the rest of the day. But I did knock out a bunch of portraits. So that is good. Boardwalk Empire. Breaking Bad. Downton Abbey.

Todays Portrait Is: Crystal Renn.

sister pine

Aww man, I waited too long in the day and now it is late and I am tired but I need to blog because I actually got out of the house and did something.

Got up early because I thought we would be leaving at noon and I need to get up at least three hours early to be prepared for anything. But it turns out it didn't need to be that soon. So it gave me time to do stuff. Huzzah!

Like neat toast and drink tea.

Then ma and I were in the car and off to catch the Bainbridge Island ferry for Seattle! It was a lovely day on and off. I drew up the map and gave mom directions, and they were super good directions too.

Anyway, we arrived at Linda's house right on time for the ladies tea! Sister Pine, Linda's daughter, was visiting. She is a Zen Buddhist nun under Thich Nhat Hanh, and is touring around right now spreading the word of thought and community and peace and all that great phenomenal wonderful stuff. I listened intently to what she said and we talked a bit about community and art and things. She had such a good energy about her. It was a real awesome pleasure to have met her.

Afterwards, ma and I stopped by the University Bookstore and I got Peace is Every Breath (a Thich Nhat Hanh book). Such a nice bookstore, though I prefer places like Powell's where you can find cheap beaten up used copies next to new ones. Much better to impulse buy lots of things, when it is set up like that.

We got stuck in traffic on the way out of town but made the Bremerton ferry with a few minutes to spare. My back had a crick in it all day. That sucked.

But meeting Sister Pine, that was spectacular.

Doctor Who was really awesome. A good fun episode. Sad there is only one left in the season and I've heard so many different stories about when the next season will be. Still, very good!

Now I am really tired and I can't believe that is the time.

OH, I also cut and sewed my San Juan Islands shirt into a tank top. It looks great. I should buy more shirts in larger sizes just to modify them to suit my needs better. It is a proper solution.

Todays Portrait Is: Lily Cole.

mats mats dock dock

Yay! Weekend! I haven't had a weekend since May or was it June? Ohh this year is going by fast.

Had a small breakfast of cupcake and tea. Then helped dad and mom haul fire wood for an hour and a half. I'm the one who tosses the wood from the truck and mom would stack it in piles for dad to stack in the wood shack thing. Then mom went and cooked and I had to make the piles. Worked for an hour and a half. Took a break. Worked for another hour. Unloaded three truck beds worth of wood! Was it three? Or two. Errr.

Either way, it was a lot of work. I got some stuff in my eye at the midway point, but I washed it out and all was well.

After wood, ma, pa, and myself packed up some cooking and went to Mats Mats for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Dad showed them a slideshow of our San Juan island trip. Dinner was a casserole, a spinach salad, some green beans, and apple pie for dessert! There was a squirrel outdoors that kept peering in at our dinner.

We left at around 7, as dad had to get home and pack.

I watched Fringe. Tomorrow Dad is off to Brazil for the week. Ma and I will be going to Seattle to meet a Buddhist nun!

Todays Portrait Is: Anais Pouliot.

the landscaping in the lot is nice, even if it does take up would be parking spaces

Up late watching Six Feet Under (only two episodes left and then I am done with that series, though I don't think I can emotionally handle that right now, plus like I said it is late).

It is weird how I used to have class at 1, and I would sleep in till 11 or so. Back at PNCA. Now I have a 1am class and I am up at around 9. I chill and eat and get ready in my own time. But not having wildly different sleeping hours through the week is best.

In class Tim the teacher started going over the basic items about shot compositions and things. Some of it I know, some of it I don't. I like realizing how much I have picked up over the years. It isn't a half bad assortment of knowledge in my noggin, if only I could apply them to something. I was sitting in what felt like the middle of old drama between several students. Olympian/ASOC drama or something. Like acquaintances that don't really like each other. I think I'm going to try sitting in the back. The boys in the back at least have seen Drive, so that is a conversation starter.

It was rainy in the morning but the sun came out. I have the hardest time navigating where I parked my car in the new lot.

Back at home I did a substantial amount of nothing. And continued to do nothing till dinner. Mmm soup. Then I watched my downloaded telly, ma and pa went to bed at 8. Now I am tired and shall sleep. Tomorrow I help dad haul fire wood and then we eat dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's.

Todays Portrait Is: Lindsey Wixson.

slab

Ma and pa packed me a really nice lunch. Mmm! I left a bit before eight, so that I could get to school and find parking. And parking I did find in the upper lot. Got to class at around a half an hour early, so I perused the teacher's text and relaxed. The first chunk was lecture about Illustrator and the program and what this and that did. We took a break and then started working through the book. Some of it is really basic stuff that I know from using the Adobe Software Suite, but other things are good to know, and the fact that he is going through it part by part is really helpful.

During the between class break, I ate half my sandwich and gobbled some food.

Flash was one part lecture, and it was a Muybridge/motion/frames per second lecture. One I've heard before from Rose Bond. After break we watched a video called Film Before Film and it was all about zoetropes and glass plates and illusions and stuff, all the ways people entertained themselves before film. It was really neat. And then class was over.

Had a nice drive home. Chilled for the rest of the night. Dinner was a slab of turkey, corn, and broccoli. Mmm!

Todays Portrait Is: Daphne Groeneveld.

intense lecture class ahoy!

Even though my class wasn't till 1, I managed to get up at about 8:30 or so. Go me! Got my portraits done. Ate breakfast. All in good time. I put my face on, and drove off to school. Found parking easily and then realized I wasn't anywhere near the theater. So I walked over to the theater and saw the sign saying class was in the Business building. I was the first one there. Some interesting characters trickled in. We have a chuckles in the class, you know, the loud kind that makes jokes and already has previous camaraderie with the teacher. He settled down.

The film directing class will be all lecture. Learning the terminology. Learning the language. It will be lecture, and I'm looking forward to it. It is all previsualization in direction. Unfortunately it is part of a three part program, so I won't take part two and three (as I should hopefully have moved on from there). After class I got a notebook and some sweets.

Then I stopped by Rite Aid and got some facial cleanser (trying out Cetaphil) and a new hair clip because the last one broke.

My car is behaving well.

Dinner was a baked thing with soup. It was good soup.

Ma and I watched Glee. It had a few laughs and a few good numbers. Raising Hope was the big star on the night. Hilaaarious! Such a charming show with a great class.

I think film is the class I'll be most enthusiastic about.

Todays Portrait Is: Kristen Holden-Ried.

drive Drive drive

Got this pounding headache out of nowhere, but I took a couple Advil and it seems to be going down.

Alarm went off at 7:15, rolled out of bed an hour later. Dad made me a delicious salmon sandwich for lunch. Munched on Cheerios on the way to school. I should have left a bit earlier, because even with the new parking lots at Olympic College, at 10am it is all full up. I ended up parking near the curb in the art parking lot section. Sort of okay but not really.

Wandered around the art room section and eventually found the elusive 113. I have sort of missed the mixed bag of students that show up for Olympic College courses. Returning students, moms, running start, all sorts. Pretty much the opposite of PNCA's skinny scruffy crew.

First class was Illustrator with Jonathan. Got a nice long lecture about how he doesn't care if we miss class (or rather he doesn't care about finding reasons for this and that, he isn't going to track us down) and got a lengthy talk about how to save stuff and some basic this and that. We start in on Wednesday. My textbook better arrive soon. Should be an interesting class. Lots of projects.

Class ended early, so I went to the library and had a great little chat with my old boss Michael. Caught up a bit on all the changes. Olympic College now gets funds for students who complete, not for the number of full time enrolled students. LAAAME. Because I'm full time right now, but they get no money for me because I'm not going to complete (all though I already got my degree four years ago).

After our little chat, I sat on the lawn where the Humanities building used to be and read and ate my sandwich.

The next class was Flash with Clydene. Some of the people from the first class were in this one, and we did proper all around introductions. There is a Digital Media Arts program now, well there was and now it is closing down. What the hell OC?

The class was mostly a lecture about the history of Flash and file sizes and vectors and then got into a PC vs Mac rant, and those are always exciting. Each serves a purpose.

Taylor, a guy who was three years behind me at Klahowya, is int he class. Recognized him right away.

Had a nice drive back home. Chilled for a bit and then went to Silverdale to see the movie Drive, one which I have been anticipating for months. Nicolas Winding Refn is fast becoming one of my favorite directors. He just knows how to put stuff together. Yeah, that wasn't the most articulate thing I've said. It was so beautiful. The colors vibrant but not distracting. The actors great. Sometimes a bit overwrought but generally awesome. The action had a punch like nothing I've seen in a while. Solid film. Can't wait till Refn's next.

Ma and pa tucked in to bed when I got home. I did the internet thing. No homework yet.

Oh dang, I have to do a portrait. I'll do one tomorrow before school. I don't have to leave till noon, so I'll be sure to get up early. Time to get a sleep schedule again. I think my goal will be a 7:15am alarm Monday-Thursday.

Todays Portrait Is: Ben Whishaw.

can't be bothered

Boating in the San Juans was fun, if a bit cold and cramped and cold at times. It was a long trip and I took no notes and I really don't feel like summing it up, it would just be the most generic blow by blow account any way. Sailed out of Anacortes, Jones Island the first night. Then Friday Harbor. Then...? Somewhere near Orcas I believe. Then Sucia. Then near Olga. Then home again. No swimming.

Anyway, sorry there isn't a proper post but I'm not in rhythm of posting right now. Tomorrow I start school again, so that will be something new to write about.

Macaulay Culkin

Oprah Winfrey

Ken Watanabe

Sam Rockwell

Trent Reznor

Lynda Barry

old school is new school

Ooff, I am tired. Up late drawing portraits and I will be getting up early tomorrow to finish my packing.

Got up at noon. So bad at getting out of bed. Pretty soon I'll be getting up for school. Baaah.

Finished my watercolors for Morgaine in the morning, then I resolved my school stuff and drove to Bremerton. Car drove perfectly fine. Olympic College is so much larger, and different, now. A lot of shiny looking buildings. Went to the Student Services area and got a new ID and parking permit. Swung by the book store and found out which text books I need. Only one, but it is pricey.

Got some fast food on the way back home, and that opted me out of dinner.

Folded my laundry. Packed the majority of my bag. Hauled down about 2/3's of my books from the minibarn. I am organizing my books in a "have read" "haven't read" and "currently reading" sections. All though comics, text, and art books are different. I'm trying to not start any new books till I finish one.

Then I watched British panel shows and worked on portraits. Now I get up in like...six hours.

Todays Portrait Is: Clint Eastwood.

.........gone yachting!

first hinges, now roofing nails

Another sleep in day. Need to get to bed earlier...though I need to work on some portraits too.

Had protein bar/tea breakfast. After I did my morning rounds, I went up to the pump house to finish the roofing. Only an hour's shift today, but it was an hour in the sun, and on a dark roof. My bum was quite warm from sitting. And I got quite sweaty as well. But the roof is all nailed up! And that ended up being the last of my work for the day. Took it easy in door for the rest of the day.

Read Ma's paper and edited it a bit. Hot tubbed. Had a lasagna dinner.

Tomorrow I drive into Bremerton and get my student parking pass and new ID and see what books I need for classes. Then I do some clothes and pack up for yachting!

Todays Portrait Is: Steve Buscemi.

chisel meet wood

Bleuuuhh. I am tired. My sleep schedule is all out of whack, even though I set my alarm for 9am every day, I snooze it for a long long time. Like I did today.

Dad made poached egg on toast with melted cheese for breakfast. Mm yum. So good. I did my internet rounds and then at 1:45pm, I joined him at the pump house for a day's worth of labor.

For the first three or so hours, I just chiseled and sawed out the area where the door hinges are going to go. Some of the hinge locations were easier to saw out, some were tricky. I'm not much of a sawer. I took a break and then it was back to work, this time helping with the roof. I sat on the roof and aligned the tar paper, and then started nailing in the shingle thingies. Tomorrow there will be more nailing of shingles. It is bound to be very warm.

Afterwards, mom was on the computer so I wasted time downstairs. Then she started making dinner. We had cornish game hens and stuffing and beans and salad. Mmm! Yumm. After stuffing ourselves, we three watched the new Doctor Who. Which was very depressing! A very dark episode and the Doctor is becoming quite the dark character. I just want everything to be happy again for Amy and Rory and all the characters. Amazing how the budget has improved on the show though...

Now it is very late and I've done four portraits. I need to do about six more before we leave on our yachting trip on Tuesday. We are going yachting in the San Juans for a bit under a week. That will be fun. So I gotta get the portraits up in the queue. Last trip of the summer. Then I am back to school. Yay.

Todays Portrait Is: Will Fichtner.

yup

I was on call today for helping Dad with the pump house, but he never needed a second hand.

I stayed mostly inside. Computer stuff. Did some paintings. Did nothing that needed doing today. Really need to haul my stuff out of the minibarn before the weather goes.

Need to get caught up and ahead with portraits again, as we might go camping.

Didn't feel like sunbathing today.

Ma worked on the computer.

My stomach gave me issues.

Sorry, don't have much else interesting to write about today.

Todays Portrait Is: Jude Law.

sixty years!

Dad's 60th birthday! That is a mighty big landmark, considering how many animals he has been attacked by and how often he works with power tools.

Got up before 11, all though that wasn't my gift to him. My gift is still in the mail.

Made my own breakfast. Then I sat on the lawn and read for a bit. Trying so hard to get some sun, though it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Though, I do have some tan lines. So I must be a couple shades darker. And my legs are not deathly pale either. I guess I am getting some sun, I just need to keep at it.

I later on called Madeline and we talked for almost two hours, probably my longest phone call on record. It was nice to catch up with her on all things nerdy and literary and televisiony. She really needs to come up and visit me. That would be awesome.

The call ended and dinner was served. Scallops! Mmm! On pasta. With some dip and vegetables and cake with lemon dressing. It was all very delicious. Dad opened the rest of his presents. Once summer is over, we won't be able to eat dinner outside anymore. Rain and cold. Boo.

Ma and Pa watched Burlesque. I watched my other stuff. Tomorrow I shall work on art! And sunbathe a bit more. Gotta get on the sun while the sun is good.

Todays Portrait Is: Robert Downey Jr.

a night in Pulali

Tuesday:

Such beautiful weather. Perfect Pulali Point weather.

Got up and packed up the travel cooler with some cheese and this and that. Went to Trader Joe's and got some taco fixings and these delicious granola brownie bars. It was sunny and brilliant. Ahh. Then I went to Bremerton and picked up my friend Sam at the ferry. I have to ship in my friends from across the Puget Sound. Ha.

It was a nice drive to Pulali Point. Sam is attending UW and hasn't really explored this region at all, so I gave him some quick Kitsap facts. At Pulali, we swam first. His first swim in the hood canal! He dipped his hand in and said it felt fine, but when he got in past his knees, that was a different story. Still, he swam out to the raft and I am very proud of him for doing so. He is a cool guy though, I shouldn't be so condescending.

After the brisk swim, we had some toast and tea and played Battleship and Boggle. Then we took a little hike to the observation booth lookout thingy on the rock. We sat on the rocks for a good long while and looked out at the water. The seals kept peering at us, and one came up into the water right below us. That was awesome. Dinner was tacos! Yum! We watched a bit of a horrible Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. movie on TV before retiring to play more Boggle. I was never quite good at it, but then I was informed I was combining letters all wrong.

Todays Portrait Is: Sean Bean.

Wednesday:

For the first time ever, I was the first one up at Pulali! I scrambled some eggs and made tea and we enjoyed the meal outdoors looking out at the water as another beautiful day began. Sam helped with the dishes. We opted out of another swim and instead hauled the double kayak down. Dustin, Celia's friend, is visiting. And it was good to see him, however brief it was.

We paddled down a little bit, but the wind was starting to pick up, so we returned before it got too hard to paddle against. It was still a nice little excursion. We drank more tea and I cut Sam's hair. Really. He asked if I could, and when I said I would in all likelihood butcher it, he said that that was fine. So I cut his hair. I cut a lot of it off. It went from 4-6 inches to a little more than one. It actually turned out...well not spectacular but not awful either. Could use some more work. But that was still fun. An odd little event. After that, we packed up and locked up Pulali. I decided to drop him off at the Bainbridge Island Ferry, just so he could be familiar with that crossing as well. And just our luck, a ferry was in dock and unloading cars as I pulled up. Hurray!

We said our fairwells and I returned home, less Ma and Pa get too lonely without me.

The work dad has done on the pump house is awesome. Ma made a lovely chicken/pea/home grown potato dinner. Mmm. I caught up on the Internet while Ma and Pa watched the hilarious Big Trouble. I've seen that movie so many times.

Today's Portrait Is: Emma Stone.

enjoying dem rays

I accidentally turned off my usual alarm clock, so I slept in. Again.

Dad made me fisherman's special. Mmm. Ma was on the computer doing her computer things. I spent a lot of time on the lawn and on the porch just sunbathing and reading. Got some actual sun today. Tan lines and all. Though not burned. That is good. Dad made hot dogs for lunch. Mmm.

Dinner was salad and then ice cream. It was so good. We watched 3/4's of Iron Man 2 on Netflix, but then it froze so we called it a night.

Tomorrow, my friend Sam and I are going to Pulali for the night. I'll blog after that. Yay swimming!

Todays Portrait Is: Peter Dinklage.

summer is running out

My stomach has been acting up, all though I had a big full dinner so that should be good for digesting.

Soaked up a wee bit of sun on the lawn. Read. Ate candy.

Walked down to the valley with ma and pa. We got down to the valley floor and then Holly emerged from the forest. She followed us much later than we were expecting her to. She rolled over and we gave her tons of pets. She is such a good dog.

Dinner was a course of salad and then salmon and rice with apple pie for dessert! Mmmm!

It was a nice day. Went by fast. Need to spend more time in the sun. Gotta get the freckles while I can.

We watched an episode of Doctor Who and then mom went to sleep.

Now I'm working on getting further ahead with portraits. Finishing up my fourth right now.

Todays Portrait Is: Sigourney Weaver.

danger danger, high voltage

Another beautiful lovely day. Dad and I rewired the electrics in a part of the pump house. Lots of wire stripping and this and that and shoving cords through the side of the plywood. We make a good team! And it all turned out wonderfully. Electrics work and all that jazz. Such a lovely warm day. A little bit later, we did the first batch of apple juice for the day. Three squeezes, almost three gallons. Mmmm! We didn't delve into the delicious tonight, but we will later on.

Dinner was pizza and corn. I watched Doctor Who and Six Feet Under, Ma and Pa finished The Fall. Lately, when I come out of my cave at night, Ma is up late reading. She is really powering her way through A Song of Ice and Fire.

Tomorrow, if it is nice, I think I shall sunbathe a bit. Need to soak it up. Not bake. Just soak.

Todays Portrait Is: James Franco.

so much nothing but even still, I want to do less

Ma and pa went to Mats Mats to haul stuff, and I slept in. Had some toast and tea. Relaxed.

Pa made lunch, and the hot dogs were quite good. Later on, it was another pump house work shift. Corrected the rafter thingies and nailed them in. Dad cut the plywood for the inside, and we struggled to get it shoved into place. I supported it as Dad got a couple preliminary nails in, and I finished off the middle three and Dad did the outer two. It really is a two, sometimes would be nice if it was three, person job. We walked Holly. I worked on portraits. We hot tubbed. Dinner was steak. Ma and pa went to bed early.

The Blackberry Festival is tomorrow. There is the chalk art contest, but I don't really feel like entering. Lethargy and all that.

Todays Portrait Is: Amy Adams.

splinter, but not the teenage mutant ninja turtle villain

Have so many splinters from yesterday! Spent the morning picking them out. Had a wee breakfast, did some drawings. Then I was called into action. Less work today than yesterday. Just nailed up another side of the pump house and helped with the roof beams, though they were spaced wrong in the end. Oops.

I haven't been eating much lately. Or rather I have been eating very irregularly. When the evening comes around, I don't feel hungry. Hmmn.

Ma and I soaked in the hot tub. That was nice.

So much of my stuff is still in boxes. I really need to get on that. Will probably have more incentive to do so when the weather turns. Have much more tidying to do. Lethaaargy.

Have more splinters now that the day is done.

Todays Portrait Is: Guy Pearce.

pump it

Dad made Fisherman's Special breakfast. Yum! I did my internet rounds and then at 2:30 I was called into pump house construction action! Hurray! In the Spencer family, we bond through labor. I did my best to nail in the inner boards, though my nailing skills are not so good. I improved though! Still, even with elbow action it was hard to get at some spots. It was a good day to work outside. Warm enough but not so hot. We got five wall sections up. It took three and a half hours, but it didn't feel like it. The job is far from done, but we made good progress today.

Dinner was chicken and potatoes. Mmm. Watched Adventure Time and Spirited and Supernatural. Now it is nearly 4am, holy cow! But I wanted to get a portrait done for tomorrow. Though I kind of want to start over on it...again. Hmmn.

Todays Portrait Is: Stephen King.

algebraic!

Watching Adventure Time. Sooo good.

Got up. Had my oatmeal and tea. Got the portraits queued. Dad didn't need my help today, as it turned out. But he will need it tomorrow.

Dad and I washed Holly. Now she is soft and smells good. Hopefully she will have less fleas. No fleas would be preferred. But at least she isn't smelly. Poor doggy.

Dad went into town. Ma came back. Dad made a burger for lunch that kept me sated all day. After dinner we watched the first chunk of The Fall. Good beautiful movie. They went to bed early so now I am watching Adventure Time.

Todays Portrait Is: Philip K. Dick.

where did the year go?

Ma had to go in for Jury Duty, so I stuck around inside on the computer for pretty much all the day. The mosquitos are annoying. But I shall brave them tomorrow and help dad with the pump house construction. Right after I eat breakfast and upload the portraits. But that is tomorrow.

Today I had oatmeal and tea and later a microwave meal and later still leftovers. We soaked in the hot tub a bit, then Ma and I watched the biopic Basquiat. We j'adore Jeffrey Wright. Such a good actor.

So yeah. Tomorrow. Breakfast. Upload portraits. Manual labor. Then more portraits. Can't believe it is almost September. 2011 just went by so fast.

Todays Portrait Is: Virginia Woolf.

egg flippin' good time

Pa made fisherman's special. We four ate outside under the kiwi and grape arbor. It was lovely. It was Nathan's choice with what to do for the day, so we played Settlers of Catan. I did not do well at all. Nathan won. The first bit of the game was played on the lawn, but Dad over heated so we finished it up under the arbor again.

Hotdogs for lunch!

Nathan and I watched an episode of Misfits. Then we went outside and got bitten by mosquitoes. Then we went inside and got changed for dinner. We went out to a nice place in Silverdale. One of those places where they cook up your meal on a hot plate for you, and do a lot of cooking at once. I had the chicken, but was filled up with delicious rice and stuff before hand. The cook was very impressive with his egg flipping skills. As in egg in the shell flipping about. Very exciting. We were stufffffed. Two boxes of left overs!

Back at home we watched Point Break. Ma was a little impatient up until the chase scene in the middle. Natey is back to San Jose tomorrow morning. Summer is running out, though the weather is nice.

Todays Portrait Is: Oscar Wilde.

ohhh doctor who, I missed you

Woke up to Dad making a fussy about Holly being allowed inside. Not a fun way to wake up.

Ma and pa canned. I worked on portraits. Watched stuff. Did the Internet thing. Nathan hung out with his friend Mike.

Doctor Who is back today! Eeeee! Was near the computer mostly to watch the episode as soon as possible.

The kitchen smelled of peaches. That was nice.

Dinner was very pale and yellow: au gratin potatoes, corn, and fish in a creme sauce. Mmm. After that we watched Doctor Who.

Nathan came back late in the day. We chatted about A Song of Ice and Fire and soaked in the hot tub.

Working on a portrait of Stephen King. He has a very defined face and I am close to getting it....so close. Thankfully I have a couple portraits buffer to accomplish it. And then Author August is over! It came and went so fast.

Todays Portrait Is: Frank Herbert.

westward, ho!

Ma, Pa, and myself loaded up the motorhome on Tuesday and went camping. I didn't take a lot of notes, so here are the details as best as I can remember them.

Tuesday:

Got up to the information that since the weather is nice, we shall be camping. I got my portraits done and posted. Quickly packed. Loaded up the Motorhome and off we went for Western Washington and the Olympic Peninsula. After the great big Utah trip, a three hour drive feels like nothing. We camped at...uhhh....this campground on the Straight of Juan de Fuca the first night. There was a really cute kid dressed like Captain America. I read Wild Cards: Aces High liberally throughout the camping trip. Reading is fun. Dad read Cryptonomicon. Mom read Game of Thrones. We had hot dogs and s'mores and walked on the beach a little bit. All was good.

Wednesday:

Ma and pa hiked on the beach and identified kelp while I slept in. Dad made fisherman's special for breakfast and it was good. We took a longer hike around the bunker and down to the beach. It was a good day for it, though we couldn't loop around due to the tide. After the hike we packed up and headed to Crescent Lake. We arrived nice and early and ma and pa kayaked. I read and made a fire. We hiked a little bit and had an early dinner. We read around the fire. Lots of reading. Not spending all day driving leaves a lot of free time to read. Ma and pa went to bed super early, and I had no choice but to follow suit.

Thursday:

My job was to paddle the kayak to the boat launch. So I did that and then waited on the lake for ma and pa to show up. Thankfully I had my book with me. I like the Wild Cards series. Superheroes. Many characters. Different writers. My kind of thing. We stopped at the Crescent Lake store for a bit before heading into the Olympic National Park. Sol Duc, here we come! And in what felt like seconds, there we were. In a lovely little camp site. We lounged around a bit. Then biked a bit. Then ate. Then read. Then walked down to Sol Duc Hot Springs and soaked and swam and soaked and swam. My earring is all tarnished now. I should really get the other ear pierced.

After that, we sat around and read some more (we did some serious reading). Then had dinner. Only I had the appetite for s'mores. Then mom and dad went to bed super early. And I had a dreadful night sleep, only aided by dad waking up at 4am and then telling mom about the dream he had and mom tittering "you have so much fun in your dreams". They let me sleep in while they did the waterfall hike.

Friday:

Breakfast was toast. We left at 11ish and returned to Crescent Lake for a little hike and a little swim. It takes 30 minutes to walk to Devil's Punchbowl. We spent another 30 minutes jumping off the bridge and off the cliff and all that fun stuff. There were lots of people about but we all had our own space to jump into the water. Dad really sunk deep. Mom only jumped twice. We changed in the motorhome and I accidentally flashed the rangers driving past (well, they may not have seen anything as they were far away and I ducked down real quick, still....). On the way back, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought peaches. We dropped some of said peaches off at the Spencer's on the way home. Ma managed to pick up Holly minutes from the kennel closing down. I helped bring some stuff from the motorhome down.

The weather is holding, which is great.

Nathan is in town, but won't be over till tomorrow.

Tuesday's Portrait: JRR Tolkien

Wednesday's: George RR Martin

Thursday's: Trevor Dodge

Friday's: Jerzy Kosinski

much love to Carmen and Josh

Buuhh. I so don't want to blog three whole days! Three big busy days. Sometimes I like just leaving stuff in the realm of the experience and not document it. I'll be brief. My blogs have been getting briefer these past few years. Probably because I've been blogging for YEARS.

Saturday (the wedding)

It was a spectacular beautiful day. We took separate cars to Pulali. I packed mine with my stuff and ma accompanied me. Nate and Dad went in the Prius. We had about an hour to relax in Pulali and then it was time to go. I put my hair in rollers and did my makeup and I probably have never looked better. I got a nice amount of compliments.

We arrived early because the wedding participants were told to be there early, but there didn't seem to be an extra practice. So I hung around and met people. Melissa and Jeremy. Phil. Ben and Averie's Josh. Scores of people. There was shrimp starters. Yum. The wedding was on Janet and Steve's property. To the far side of their lawn there was a platform and the chairs. In the middle was a tent and two long tables with assigned seating. And on the farthest side was the booze tent. And since the wedding was on no rented space's schedule, it went when it went. And it was beautiful. I was in the front row, as I had to get up to read a poem. It was so very hot. Everyone was sweating. But Carmen was beautiful in a perfect lovely gorgeous dress. And Josh looked so right for my wonderful second cousin. The ceremony was wonderful. Personal. Excellent. And a bit funny when both the best man and maid of honor forgot the rings. But they went on without them.

The chairs were moved over to the tables, the cocktail hour started, and I tried the beer that Brian made. Chatted up all sorts of people. Everyone was super nice and very easy to talk to. The first course was soup. Then came vegetables and asparagus and vegetarian options and salmon and ahh so much food! And so delicious. I was seated with Phil, Eric, Ian, Hannes, Ben, Courtney. It was a good section. I gorged and drank and people clinked glasses and Carmen and Josh kissed and people gave toasts. It was lovely.

Their first dance was choreographed to It's Oh So Quiet by Bjork. The sun set midway their number. Then we all lit sparklers. The band came on. I danced with Brynne and Phil on the lawn but no one joined. It got darker. The bouquet was tossed and I didn't catch it. There was more dancing on the patio. With Ben, Brynne, Phil, Josh (Averie's, not Carmen's). It was awesome. I'm not the best dancer but I still had fun. It was over all too early and I regretted not driving my own car to the shindig. Just being able to stay a few more hours would have been great.

Back to Pulali we went.

Todays Portrait Is: Bret Easton Ellis.

Sunday (Pulali):

Breakfast was pancakes. It was a lovely day. We went and collected the kayak and ma, pa, Nate, and myself rowed down the way. Dad harassed the star fish. Nathan took pictures with his fancy phone. It was wonderful. Back on the beach some ugliness happened, but we won't get into that here.

While we were out at sea, Dan, Brynne, Ben, and Josh arrived at Pulali. We snacked and chatted and showed Josh old photos. They left and we had hot dogs and corn. Then Hannes (who stayed the night after the wedding) left for home. We left, Nathan in my car, Ma and Dad in the Prius.

Nathan and I were about a minute too late. A tree came down, and took a powerline down across the road (live wire and whatnot). The way people were gathering, it was obvious that it had just happened as we were approaching in the car. We pulled over and stopped. And then waited for about an hour and a half. Ma and pa were in the queue of cars. And some bikers. Lots of people. So close to highway 101, no other way to get on it...or so we thought! Based on someones advice, we took a really overgrown dirt road right past the fire station. The Prius went ahead and the Contour followed. It was probably the roughest terrain my baby has been on (unless Nathan hasn't told me about something). It was banjo country for a bit. Annnnd it came to a dead end. So Dad turned around and Nate and I switched, and Nate reversed till he could find a place to turn around. And THEN we found this Y that the guy mentioned (going in the other direction, and easy miss) and VIOLA we were on 101. The Prius was dragging ferns and who knows what was sticking out of the Contour.

Got home at 8ish. Computered it up. Then everyone went to bed early because Nathan had to go back to San Jose. But he will be back in a week, so whatevs.

Today's Portrait Is: JK Rowling.

Monday:

Ma and Pa did their Ma and Pa stuff. I wasted the day on the Internet. Did the missing portraits. Ma paid for my supplemental courses (hurrah, back to school for me) and said that I should go to Barbie's and remind them about my job application. They went to bed at 8. I didn't.

Today's Portrait Is: HP Lovecraft.

wedding rehearsal woop woop

Boy oh boy. What a day! I got a horrid night sleep, so rolling out of bed at 6:30 was already a bad start. Showered and put some makeup on and then looked at the clock and then started getting rushed. Buttered some bread. Drew out directions. Then I had a mild panic when I was trying to wrangle my brain around where the heck Kingston is. Dad ended up driving me to the ferry, and got there in perfect time. It was gray and cold and I was waiting in the cycle area in front of the cars. I was in a dress and a light jacket next to guys on motorcycles. I was shivering a bit, but was ever hopeful the weather would improve.

It was a short ride over to Edmonds. I biked up the hill to 9th, which got my blood pumping. So even though it was gray, that was good because if it was warm, I would have been drenched in sweat.

Arrived at Janet and Steve's house a bit early, but that was fine. Time to drink some tea and collect my breath.

Did I mention what I was in Edmonds for? No? Yes? I was there for my second cousin Carmen's wedding rehearsal. She is marrying this dude Josh tomorrow.

Anyway, met Josh. He is a nice dude. Brian, Shawn, Kirsten, and quite a few other people arrived on time. They set up outside all this nice fancy equipment. I'm not part of the full wedding party, I am one of four poem readers. I get front row seating. Booyah. They did their little walk throughs. It will be a really nice ceremony. I'll have to try not to cry, but I probably will. After a couple run throughs, we headed down to Five (a bistro) for the rehearsal dinner brunch.

My appetite is gargantuan after so many pudding days. Scarfed the salad, the sandwich, the chips, and even had room for tiramisu. It was fantastic. Everyone in the Carmen+Josh crew is so nice, and since I've done all that art for Odd Owl, they are familiar with me. I had a great time chatting and eating and getting to know more awesome people.

I left my bike at Janet and Steves, so I got a ride back with them and pedaled down to the ferry dock along the waterfront. The sun had come out and it was positively warm and brilliant. I bought my ferry ticket and parked at the front. Being first on is pretty awesome.

Ma was scarfing a crepe when I disembarked from the ferry. I drove home so that she could continue to eat. I computered it up when I got home and mom gave me the evil eye for computering it up. Because now my computer habits interfere with her habits thanks to the monitor probems. Mmm.

Nathan flew up from San Jose tonight. He'll be here for the weekend.

There will be a break in portraits till we return from Pulali.

Josh and Carmen's wedding tomorrow! Yaaay! I wrapped my present up real nice. Yup.

Todays Portrait Is: Haruki Murakami.

running around and staying put

Had to get up really early (7:30am!) to follow mom to the Toyota dealership. The Prius needed some product recall switcharoo. Another nice day wasted by the temptation of indoors.

Didn't get around to doing the portraits till late. Finished my quilt. It looks fantastic! Drove mom back to the dealership. On the way back, I swung by Trader Joe's and got some treats. Mmm treats.

My teeth still clench a little bit funny and my jaw doesn't quite open wide, but the swelling is very mild. But yeah, yaaay healing!

Nathan comes over for the weekend tomorrow. Dad came back from Houston tonight.

Tomorrow is a busy day. Better get to sleeping!

Oh, also, I registered for Beginning Flash, Beginning Illustrator, and film directing at Olympic College. The rest of 2011 will be spent at home. Now I need to find a way to earn some money to pay for gas (my old job at the library is not available).

Todays Portrait Is: Ryu Murakami.

hair like impending autumn

A lovely day outside. Went to my dental check up. Everything is looking and healing fine. Hurrah! On the way back I impulsively bought hair bleach. At least my impulsions are cheap. I'd be a bad stock broker. Anyway, I spent the afternoon attempting to ombre my hair (a style where the lightest part is at the bottom and it gradually fades to your natural color). And these were the results:

It is a bit more...orange than I'd like. In another month, once my hair has healed (or rather, been moisturized tenderly) I might toss in a light brown color on the bottom, just to soften it up a bit. The good thing about this, is that it is the ends of the hair. The stuff that is first to be cut off. All the good and healthy bits are still good and healthy. Because doing henna one day and bleach the next is not that good of an idea. Still, it worked! It has to settle a bit before I'm used to it, but generally yay hurrah!

Spent the rest of the nice day indoors finishing up my quilt. A movie (the hilarious and lewd Mystery Team) some Red Dwarf and The Last Enemy later, and it is all put together! I just need to do the border and then viola, it is complete! Sure it doesn't look like they most professional of quilts. Far from it. But it is full of heart and love.

Gah, gotta get up early because mom is taking the Prius to the dealer for some car stuff. Will finish the quilt and do portraits tomorrow. Yes. That sounds nice.

Todays Portrait Is: Paul Auster.

mother knows best

Woke up at 10am, without my alarm clock. Didn't feel like sleeping in, so I got up. Had an egg and some tea for breakfast and then got to grinding up my last remaining henna. I'll let my hair go natural from now on. Put it in my hair and then did my hair up in a plastic wrap turban to keep it from oozing everywhere. Then I got on with relaxing. The swelling in my cheeks has all but visibly disappeared, though my jaw is still tight and I can feel the swelling in my mouth. So it did end up being a long recovery, all though not so totally bad. Not a lot of pain, just discomfort.

I pieced my quilt together and it is now resting on the quilting frame. After I go get my checkup tomorrow, I shall sit in front of the television and finish it!! Hurrah!

I can't tell the difference in my hair so much, but it normally takes about a day before the full color comes out. And anyway, henna is a soft shift. Think I might try and ruin my hair with at home ombre style highlighting next. Mmhmm.

Anyway, made myself some pasta for dinner. Ma came home at around 8 and we watched Tangled. Which was really fun! A lot better than I was expecting (though I don't know why I thought less of it from my first impressions).

Busy next couple days.

Todays Portrait Is: John Burdett.

out of it

Saturday:

Woke up pretty swollen. Like a chipmunk. At this stage I switch from ice packs to heat. Packed up my car. Chilled my face. Off we went to Pulali. Brynne and Dan were visiting for the night, so that was awesome. I spent a large chunk of the day napping on the couch, because the meds knocked me out. Was very swollen. Brynne whipped me up some creme cheese and salmon on soft crackers. Dinner was soft pasta and steamed vegetables. Other people had sausages and burgers and food that I couldn't eat. Some other stuff happened, but I was both out of it and can't quite recall. Talked with Dan about books a bit. Slept soundly.

Todays Portrait Is: Daniel Clowes.

Sunday:

Worked my way slowly through some pancakes for breakfast. Mmm. Then took another nap while Brynne and Dan kayaked and Mom and Dad did something else. B & D left early. Only one night at Pulali for them, but I'll see them in a week so that will be nice. Nibbled my way through some food. It is hard to eat because my mouth doesn't open that way. Slightly less swollen though that isn't saying much. Ma and pa continued to eat food that I couldn't. This included some afternoon s'mores. Boo! Took a little hike with Celia and Ma.

Had a very restless night sleep.

Today's Portrait is: Chris Ware.

Monday:

I look less swollen, though my cheek is bruised from it. Just a little bit of pudge in the cheeks, but I feel it pressing against my teeth and it is hard to eat or work up an appetite. Left Pulali at around 11am. Arrived home and unpacked. I checked up on what was happening on the Internet. Mom made me an egg salad sandwich that I had to cut into little pieces. I was feeling ill, but the sandwich and some ginger ale restored me. Hurrah!

Took it easy for the day.

At 6:50ish we three went into town to see Cowboys & Aliens. It was good. Nothing like AHHH PHENOMENAL SO COOL. Good. Stunts and effects were well executed. Excellent actors in nice costumes. It was good.

Dad is off to work for a quicky. Tomorrow I simply must get a big part of my quilt finished.

Today's Portrait Is: Michael Chabon.

sleeping in the sun

Woke up feeling a bit sore but not totally in pain. But with my pudding, chocolate milk, and pasta breakfast I took my ibuprofen and pain killer. Just to make sure that if I might be in pain later, I wouldn't have to wait for pain killers to kick in. Watched Fellowship of the Ring and the first half of The Two Towers. That is a lot of movie watching. But when you are laid up with swollen cheeks, it is perfect. And ma was on the computer doing ma stuff.

Lunch was ravioli. It took a long while to nibble through. Afterwards I had some yogurt. Can't eat pudding all day. I lounged on the upstairs porch in the sun and fell asleep. The pills made me really drowsy all day. I did my internet rounds after I woke up. Did my laundry. Dinner for mom was grilled cheese. Dinner for me was ramen and egg. For a bit I laid in the middle of the couch between mom and dad. When I switched ice pack sides (alternating 15 on each side as opposed to having to deal with having both cheeks iced) I switched which parent I had my legs draped over and where my pillow was nestled against. And which ever parent I had my head facing, they draped their arm around me. It was really nice. I should get my teeth removed more often.

They went to sleep, I folded my laundry. I am now all caught up on Spirited. Such a good show. Think I'll do some drawings. I also scanned and queued three more portraits.

Tomorrow we three head to Pulali for two nights. Might blog. Might not. The portraits will be coming up on Portraitoday.blogspot.com, so check that out, yeah?

I'm not using gauze anymore, but my mouth still feels funky. But also my once every four hour pain killer has worn off. I don't think I'll take another before bed though. Feeling pretty fine.

Todays Portrait Is: Charles Burns.

teef be gone

Since I couldn't eat breakfast or drink tea, it was a pretty effortless morning. Got up at around 8:30. Showered. Popped my pills.

Ma drove me to the Poulsbo dental office. We waited for a bit. I flipped through an old magazine (total dental stereotype office). I practically hopped out of my seat when it was my turn. Gave Mom a kiss on the forehead. I was more worried about her worrying about her daughter, than I was about the surgery. They said that I was the most enthusiastic patient that they had had. I've never been under before, or had an IV. So I found it exciting. New stuff! They put me on an IV, and settled me in. One second I was thinking about boys, the next second I was being woken up. I was very very groggy and didn't quite remember getting to the car. I talked on the way home, though it was mostly delirious stuff.

Dad set up the Netflix for me. I took some painkillers and then settled in for a few hours of Doctor Who on streaming. Swallowed an amount of my own blood. Changed cotton out for gauze. In between gauze, I had some pudding. Later on I had some delicious soup. Mom is treating me really well. Dad is as well. He brought me up a bowl of mac and cheese for dinner. I nibbled it into bits using my front teeth and just swallowed it down. Watched about five episodes of Doctor Who and a Starz special about character actors. Then the feeling came back to my face. Went on the internet till So You Think You Can Dance. Fantastic finale. I didn't vote for Melanie, but it was well deserved.

Watched Wilfred. Watching Spirited. If the latter wasn't so damn good, I would have gone to bed an hour and a half ago. Hahah.

But yeah, my first surgery went really well. I'm recovering well. The worst pill side effect thus far has been mild wooziness. Eagerly awaiting the time when I can stop using the gauze and ice packs.

Todays Portrait Is: (a slightly scary) Neil Gaiman.

Daenerys, the Doctor, and Princess Bubblegum

Pencil, pen, and watercolor.

Roughly 3" x 3", all of them

that is what Chris Ware looks like???

I'm almost a week ahead of portraits now. Whipped out three awesome ones in the afternoon ( plus a couple extra doodles just for fun) and three more awesome ones in the evening. Don't have the three latest ones all queued up, but that will be fairly easy to do. Pretty much all the drawing fun time ended up eating up all my quilting time. Before I knew it, it was dinner. And the So You Think You Can Dance. I voted for Sasha.

I'll have to finish the quilt when I'm coming down from surgery I guess. Maybe since I've hyped up the recovery, maybe it will go smoothly and it will be a big let down. Dad set up the quilting frame indoors, so that will be nice to use. Watch tv, eat pudding, quilt.

Now I gotta wake up in six hours, take some medication, get my mouth cut open and teeth broken up and yanked out.

Todays Portrait Is: Warren Ellis.

tuesday doodles

Drawings of characters from A Dance With Dragons, the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire

3" x 3 1/2"

Watercolor

tv and little drawings

Gosh. Spent pretty much the whole day watching television. Lots of Supernatural. And this show Spirited about a dentist who lives with a ghost (it is Australian and really good). Worked on portraits and little paintings. Not nearly enough portraits though. Need to really work at it tomorrow to get ahead so that when my teeth are yanked, I don't have to worry about it.

Dad and I washed Holly with a flea shampoo. Dad was very nice to the doggie as he washed her. I think he likes her.

Dinner was lasagna and corn. Mom and I soaked in the hot tub for a while, then finished watching Micmacs.

Didn't quilt. Need to finish that up as well.

Todays Portrait Is: Alan Moore.

cake or quilt

Slept way in. Hurray. Then had to promptly get up and get ready to go to Mats Mats. Had some lovely toast and egg. Mmm.

Grandpa's Birthday is tomorrow so we brought an ice cream cake and seafood lasagna. Ma and I sat on the lawn and read in the sun for a while. The lasagna was good, though the sauce could have been thicker. The cake was also good, though ever since I got my teeth cleaned, my gums have been super sensitive to cold foods.

It was a nice little visit. We didn't stay late. We swung by Joanns where I got the fabric to finish my quilt. So after drawing some more portraits, that will be tomorrows great endeavor. I can't wait! Lounged for the rest of the night. Watched the first half of Micmacs with mom.

Todays Portrait Is: Grant Morrison.

dress to impress

Had a lovely night sleep. A good full one. Mmm.

Toaster strudel breakfast. At 1ish we (ma, pa, myself) went to Green Mountain and walked up it. You can see Seattle from the top. We were hoping to see the Blue Angels air show from the distance, but not jets were seen. We hung around for a bit and then went back down the mountain.

I went into town to get a dress for Carmen's wedding. Only went to Target, as I found two great dresses (I'll return one tomorrow). Wandered around Target for a while. Got some toothpaste as well. Shopping in big stores overwhelms me. I didn't have any second opinions on the dresses, hence buying both of them to take home and get mom's thoughts. Mom didn't like either of them, but my friends did (via the Internet). Kinda don't want to return one, but I should...

Dad made crab cakes for dinner. I had some pasta as well. Delicious! After that I went to the Girl Cave and fully finished my quilt front. It looks so lovely. And so BIG. Now I just need to get the batting and fabric for the back, and then finish it. So close. Just a few more work days. I think I'll get the fabric tomorrow. And return the dress. Even though I think it is quite cute. Though I so rarely wear dresses.

Todays Portrait Is: Kurt Vonnegut.

dragons left me groggy all weekend

Went to Pulali for a bit of the weekend. Didn't feel like blogging.

Thursday:

Sat out in the sun and started reading Jennifer Government. Starting to develop very faint tan lines. Oh, I also stayed up till dawn Wednesday night finishing Dance with Dragons. SO DARN GOOD, OH MY GOSH. I almost can't believe it, how good it was.

Later in the day, we packed up the truck with some food and clothes and set off for Pulali. The sun went away just as we arrived, and stayed hidden till we left two days later. Boo!

Dinner was hot dogs and we watched So You Think You Can Dance. I had a restless night sleep.

Today's Portrait is: Chuck Palahniuk.

Friday:

The sun was still non existent. I helped shovel out the steps. I read a bit. We walked along the beach. I scuffed up my shoes.

I didn't do much that day. Well, I made a book jacket for Jennifer Government because I really really disliked the jacket design. The weather wasn't nice enough to be worth lounging on the beach.

Today's Portait is: Cormac McCarthy.

Saturday:

Dad made pancakes for breakfast, so that was awesome. Been having really irregular nights sleep during the whole stay, so I was pretty tired and out of it for the whole day. Ma had a wedding reception to go to, so we packed up Pulali pretty early. I napped in the back seat of the truck during part of the reception and walked with Holly for another part. Snagged some cake. My new teeshirt was in the mail when we got back. Yaaay! For the rest of the day we relaxed. Didn't get up to much. A full nights regular sleep should restore me.

Todays Portrait Is: Mary Roach.