driving about, getting needed things

Oh sweet. I found the Santa Cruz specific Craigslist, and there were tons of apartments. I applied to a few, and two of them got back to me! Both are available ASAP, which works really well for me. I meet with at least one of them tomorrow after work. Here is hoping that goes well! I might be moved out in a weeks time. Oh how fast things move! A week ago I was anxiously awaiting hearing back about whether or not I got the job I applied for. Ha! Amazing.

Anyway. I slept in, but only till 10. Odd how that is "sleeping in" in San Francisco.

Had some juice that Carmen and Josh blended, then went and ran some errands in Daly City. Went to Target and got some work shirts (generic white Hanes six pack, shirts I can get mucky with ink and not care too much about). And some bras, because I always need those. Especially of the work variety. And I got some shampoo & conditioner, because I am running low. Then I went to Trader Joe's and got a bunch of food. Sandwich fixings, sweets, and granola bars mostly. OH DANG, I FORGOT TO GET DEHYDRATED MANGO! Boo. Oh well. Next time.

Called Dad. Wished him Happy Father's Day. Got back to the apartment. Played Kinect with Carmen and Josh. Later on we walked down to Irving and got waffles. Yum. Then we watched Star Trek. Now it is 10:30, and I am in bed, another exciting week starts! A very exciting week, filled with work and possibly moving out and into a new apartment. In Santa Cruz. Where I shall begin my awesome life.

Damn, I'll have to get a bed. Well, I'll get a futon to start. Something I can realistically move in my car. I need to see the type of space I might potentially be moving into anyway.

I'm a person with weekends now! proper weekends!

Weekend! Time to do weekend things! I slept in, and that was nice. I had eggs and tea for breakfast. Also nice. I made my weekend to do list, which involved tidying up (which I did) and to start the quest for apartments so that I can move and be all independent and stuff. Most of the Craigslist Monterey Bay listings are for Monterey and Salinas. Very few for Santa Cruz. I want to live in Santa Cruz.

I got some frozen yogurt and was walking back along Irving and ran into Phil, so we walked and talked and parted ways when he arrived at work.

In the afternoon, Carmen, Josh, and I played Kinect. I did pretty well at some of them, but horribly at the other games (we played Kinect Adventures). Still, tis fun. And we all had our own avatars that looked like us, though Carmen remarked that the face I picked for mine was way too square. After that, I got sushi for dinner and they went out to dinner and a movie. I gobbled my sushi and watched that remake movie 21 Jump Street. It was funnier than I expected it to be, though still just at the "good" marker. Nothing groundbreaking.

Then I started looking for apartments. I almost wrote "looking for jobs" but hey, I got one of those! One step at a time. I also made a "looking for apartment" posting. I'll see if that gets any response.

Tomorrow I have some shopping to do. Food stuffs mostly, and I think I'll look into getting some cheap shirts to use for work shirts. Change into them when I arrive and change out when I leave, just because I don't want to obliterate too much of my wardrobe with ink smudges. My printmaker clothes were largely left in Washington. Anyway, yeah. Stuff to do, stuff to do!

weekend may be here, but I look forward to Monday!

I love my job! It is hard work, and I'm on my feet all day, and it is taking time to get into the swing of things, and I make little mistakes here and there, but I'm learning! And learning quick. Need to remind myself it has been 3 days at this job. Just 3.

I cleaned squeegees and floodbars, and used this chemical to clear out a screen, but mostly I caught shirts and sweatshirts as they came out of the dryer. Hundreds of shirts. And did quality control. Julie helped on my end. Chris did the printing. He's got the rhythm for the speedy stuff. I got to work at 10:30, a bit earlier. Don't have to come in till 11 on Monday. I like the variety and flexibility of it all. I snacked through the day, and got some dinner as I fueled up my wheels.

It is also a fast paced day, something I've always liked about printmaking. It just moves right along and you can really see the progress you've made. I can't wait to get better and learn more and increase my confidence with the machines.

Now I just need to move to Santa Cruz, and before I know it, my life will find a new routine!

Hopefully a routine that included Yoga.

Left at 9, got back at 8. I get my first paycheck next Friday! And then every Friday, because I get paid on Friday's. Whoo! Now I'll need to get a local bank account in which to put my moneys.

long days are rewarding days

Wooof, I am tired! Really need to work out. Build up my strength, especially in my arms, because this is a labor based job. If you ain't in shape, labor will make things tricky. Sure I'll get in shape as it goes along, but I should hot step it, ya know?

First, I need to move to Santa Cruz.

I think I did pretty well today. Did a bunch of shorts, changed out the pallets, cleaned some squeegees and floodbars. Lots of work. All on my feet. Loved every minute of it! Can't wait to become uberly good at what I do, so I can just get right to it and print print print. I've learned quite a bit in these two days, and I can only go up!

Toon, aka Lindsay, aka my first roommate, is engaged! Ahhhh!

Oh no, now I'm at the stage of life where all my friends are getting married! (Cherish and Isaiah, Jade and Cory, Jenn and Steve, to name a few). In ten years, they'll start having babies.

Got myself a waffle for dinner. Yum! I need to make a big macaroni salad or something. Easy lunch, ya know? Something to snack on as the day goes on.

I start tomorrow at 10:30. Today I started at 11. A lot needs to get printed, and it prints oh so fast.

achievement unlocked: employment

Yesterday, I was anxiously awaiting hearing back about my job. Today I learned, at my new job, how to use an automatic screen printing press.

Booyah.

Tuesday:

I spent the day anxiously awaiting a call in regards to employment. Ma & Pa were up in the redwoods, so I decided to meet them for dinner, and to spend the night, and to return to San Francisco the next day. Needed to get out of the house because sitting by the phone wasn't doing me any good. Earlier in the day I did more laundry (pants) and all that good stuff. I went to Sheng Kee and got a bunch of pastries for Ma & Pa, because they like sweet treats.

Left at around 6:15ish. At 6:30, as I was crossing Golden Gate Bridge, I got a call from Chris informing me that, if I still wanted that job, it was mine. So, yes, I took it. I'm employed! I have a job! After, oh, two months? I got a job! And a job in the field of stuff that I enjoy doing! HURRAY!

The first thing I told Ma and Pa, when I arrived at their campsite. A triumphant "I GOT THE JOB" followed by hugs and happy dancing and a burger and a bevvy and several s'mores. Perfect! They also got me a totally sweet banana slug paper weight (it's glass, not real) and taffy. Love my parents, they understand exactly the things that I like. We played some games, and then at 9ish, we tucked into bed.

I had a fairly restless night sleep, what with the anxiety of starting work tomorrow. LEGIT WORK! AHHH! Chris (my new boss, who is really nice and high fived me several times today) asked when I could come in and I said Wednesday because I was ready to start. Anyway...

Wednesday:

I said I would start today, but not until 1pm. Come in a bit later. I got up at 7:30. Ate poached egg on toast with melted cheese, and had some tea, and some of the pastries I brought. Left at 8:15ish. Gassed up the car. Headed back to San Francisco. Paid the toll on the bridge (there was no toll when I left). Got in at around 9ish. Had some more tea. Showered. High fived Josh (who was leaving right as I arrived) and happy danced some more. Carmen is back! She goes away, and I interview and get a job! Woaaah! Things move fast.

At 11:30, after packing a sandwich, I left for work! My job! And I arrived right on time, well, with time to spare! With no traffic, it is about an hour and fifteen minute commute. With traffic it goes to hour and 45 minutes, though most of the traffic happens around San Francisco, so I think the coming back is more the cluster than the getting out of. Need to move to Santa Cruz, though I do quite enjoy living with Carmen and Josh. And the commute ain't so bad, because 11/22/63 is quite the awesome audiobook! It is nice and lengthy too, but moves at a good pace.

Anyway. Work! Love it. My boss is Chris, my coworkers (that I've met, there might be more) are Julie and Andrew. Julie showed me how to start up the automatic press and clean the vents in the dryer. Chris showed me how to work the press. The heat, the putting on the pallet beds, the spray glue, the system of it all. It went by quite quick, and I'm sure I didn't get it all, but I got enough that I was able to run the press and print a bunch of sweatpants without needing Chris to make sure I was doing it up to snuff! YAY! I can only go up from here, and for my first day I think I started at a pretty good place. And pants are apparently really hard to load and unload. There will be shirts tomorrow. Multi color layer shirts. That will be INTENSE I'm sure. And I can't wait! I can't wait to get uber proficient! I can't wait to get better and all that wonderful awesome stuff.

AHHH! I have a job. I went to art school. I learned how to screen print. I graduated. I got a job (13 months later) using my skills. How great is that?

YAY!

Anyway, Carmen and Josh are playing Kinect. I'm going to join them.

North, Ho!

Gone camping for the night with Ma & Pa. Will report back tomorrow.

Still no word on the job.

monday

I was going to be all "time to sleep" but then I realized I hadn't blogged. So yup, down to it.

Haven't heard back about the job. Buuuut he was interviewing two more people today. Always good to sleep on your decision? Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a call. If I don't, I may give him a ring on Wednesday. That isn't TOO pushy? Right?

So I spent the day hovering near my phone and being nervous. I did laundry. Looked up some more jobs, but the prospects were meager. My enthusiasm for the hunt is waning, especially when I feel like I am SO CLOSE to employment. I can practically taste it!

Went down to Irving Street and did some more grocery shopping, and got dinner as well (Chinese food, really unspecial Chinese food). It is good to get out of the house and clear ones head.

Watched Black Lightning on Netflix. It is like Spiderman, except it is Russian, and has flying cars instead of spider abilities. It's quite silly. Had some good actual car stunts, but they were sandwiched in between silly CG car stunts.

one big what if

Ohhhh, whoops! I sat outside for a few hours, and now I'm pink! Not red, but not a gentle pink. My cheeks are pink, my legs are pink (not my feet, because I used sunblock on the tattoo), my arms are pink, my tummy is pink. Yeah. We put out the hammock, and I read, and then I kicked back and snacked and listened to an audiobook, and just absorbed the sunshine. Absorbed a bit too much, obviously, but it was a good way to spend an afternoon.

Tomorrow begins the three day window of hearing back about the screen printing job. Ohhh, nervous!

In the evening, I road my bike out for Phil's surprise birthday party. I wore my cutoffs for the bike ride, but had my fancy stripey pants for the party itself. It was ALL HILLS. Almost no part of the journey was flat or straight. It was up, then down, then up, then down, then UP UP UP, then down, and finally up. I walked up for about half the hills. It is hard to build up momentum when you have four way stops mucking everything up.

I arrived at around 6:15, sweaty and out of breath. Adam and Vanessa were there, and I clustered with them mostly. Met a Matt, two Roberts, Shelly, Dina, uhm...and a bunch of other people. Phil was very surprised. There was lots of food. Ribs, cupcakes, rice and veggies, and just so much to consume! There were many people, and when the numbers were large, I kept to the smaller cluster. It was hard to break into the bigger group. The range of connections to Phil were various. Not a straight forward social group.

Anyway. Phil liked the Bill Murray portrait I made for him. A lot of other people liked it too, so I hope it doesn't go missing. It won't. Phil's brother's Joe and Stephen/Steven came later on. The remaining cluster all played Apples to Apples for a good long while. I drank tea. Others drank Old Fashioneds as made by Phil. It was a good group, and the game was fun. I left at around 12:15. It was much easier to bike back. Much more downhill than up.

By the end of this week, I'll either continue to be unemployed, or I will be employed. That is INTENSE. What if this is it? What if I get this job? What if I stay at this job for a while? What if they take me on after the probationary period? What if I move to Santa Cruz? What if the next chunk of my life is totally awesome and filled with swimming and sun and taking it easy?

problematic Prometheus

Went to Redwood City and watched Prometheus with Nate and Josh. Visually it was amazing. Great sets, costumes, actors, special effects, all that shebang. The plot though was a bit...it brought up a lot of questions but didn't really answer them, and as Josh and I talked about it on the drive back, it just got more confusing. We tried to reason some things out, but it was all a bit of a stretch. Need to talk to Madeline. She is the expert on the film series. Anyway, yeah, the script was a bit, errr, but it was lovely to behold.

We three ate dinner at Milagros. Nate & I shared a quesedilla and chips, Josh had a stuffed pepper. It was a nice warm Saturday.

Earlier on, Josh worked on his portfolio and I went and got some frozen yogurt (this was when we were still in San Francisco, of course). I took my froyo into the park and listened to 11/22/63 and sketched and relaxed. I caught a lot of sun on my shoulders, so now I have some tan lines, and hopefully freckly shoulders. My hair unfortunately also is part of the tan lines, but I've never had an even tan. Anyway, it was nice to just kick back and get some sun and snack on stuff. Another chill day. Gandered a bit at more jobs. Had a sandwich. Had tea.

It's all good.

Kick Back Friday

The skin around my fingernails, on a couple fingers, is all funky. Not like fungus funky, just sort of sensitive cuticle funky. I just need to keep my nails filed and trimmed and clean. Skin issues, you just have to wait them out. In a few days it gets better. If I can keep myself from picking at them.

Anyway. Today was a chill day. I slept in (till 10) and took a nap later on. It was weird, I just felt this nap coming on. Don't know how I got so tired, I just was. Read a bit. Ate a sandwich. Drank tea. Kept it chill. Looked up some more jobs, just so that I don't spend the next few days waiting to hear back. If I go back to square one, I'd rather be on square one now then a few days from now, ya know?

Josh and I went out for tacos for dinner. They were good tacos. Then we played Little Big Planet on the Playstation for a while

Tomorrow I might see Prometheus with Nathan, but if he goes to see Ma and Pa, who are camping many hours north of here, I'll probably see it on my own. Or with Josh. I don't feel like driving many hours to go camping for a night, especially when I have Sunday plans.

Trill loves S.C.

Ohhh I'm tired. Long day. I need to get used to driving, because if I get the job I interviewed for today, I have a bit of commuting I'll have to do before I can get relocated to Santa Cruz.

So. About that job. We'll get right to it, shall we?

I feel really good about the interview. We had a good chatterly manner about things. I pumped up my skills in a good, honest way. And we had a good dialogue. I didn't feel all that nervous, compared to the two previous interviews I've had. I was honest about my skill levels, and asked what I think are good questions, and my enthusiasm was genuine. The shop does commercial screen printing and has a nine arm automatic press. SO HUGE AND COOL! Anyway. I feel good about it. It was a good environment, and Chris, the bossman, was really nice. He complimented my tattoos (he had full sleeves) so that was a good impression maker.

The shop is in a garage down a winding road, just north of Santa Cruz. Pretty cool little place. An hour and twenty minute drive from San Francisco, which is long but not unfathomable in the short term. I'll hear back sometime between Monday and Wednesday. I really want this job. It's perfect for me. If I get it, I'll be probationary to start, and hopefully they'll keep me on. So much hope!

I had a good morning. Had toast and egg. Left at 11:30. Stopped at a Starbucks on the way down and got a treat. Got to the shop right on time. Had my interview, which lasted about an hour, which gives me a good feeling. Then I drove further down into Santa Cruz and had lunch at Cafe Delmarette in the sort of downtown area. I people watched and read City of Thieves and thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich. I crossed the street into the used bookstore and perused the stacks. Picked up a William Morris collection. His sort of Marxist writings, not his artwork. It was on sale, and it seemed to have to do with creativity. Always good to get different points of view?

Then my meter was running out, so I drove to Lighthouse Beach and sat on a bench and soaked up the sun and finished City of Thieves. It was a good book. Had some great turns of phrase. Maybe not totally great, but I enjoyed the characters. Now that I've finished a book, I can start another one! That science fiction time traveller book! Yay!

I drove back, and returned before the sun set. Now I'm chilling out and feeling pretty good about today.

And also feeling tired.

Monster & Creator

Got up nice and early. Showered. I think my hair is a bit longer on one side than the other. Ah, oh well.

Had a nice eggy breakfast, though now I've eaten so many of Carmen & Josh's eggs, that I have to replace them, which I did, same brand too so as not to be that type of person that replaces consumed food with lesser food. And theirs were getting a bit close to expiration date. I don't think they are that big of egg eaters. I am though. Yum yum eggs.

When I opened up my email to print out my Frankenstein tickets, there was an email response for a job I applied for! A Santa Cruz screen printing job! A couple email exchanges later and I have an interview tomorrow! AHHH!! I finally got one! An interview for a place I applied for. Holy cow! Here is hoping it goes super well. I don't want to talk too much about it, so as to avoid any kind of jinx. Still. YAY! AHHH!!!

I had a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch, and treated myself to some buns to eat later on. At 4:15ish, I packed up and headed off to Redwood City. I left plenty of time because I knew there would be traffic, but it never got to a stand still, which was nice. I started listening to Stephen King's 11/22/63. I really like his work in audiobook form. Something about the way he writes, I enjoy more when it is read to me.

I did some food shopping at Trader Joe's and dropped it off at Nate's apartment, and then pretty soon it was time to walk down the street to partake in the enjoyment of Frankenstein! AHHH!! I've waited so long for this, and have been so excited for it. The audience was surprisingly older, like more theater goers than Sherlock fans (though I could spy a few). I chatted with the guy behind me, Carlos, about the book and tattoos, and then it was time for the show to start.

And oh it was good. The set design and lighting were amazing. It was creative and not quite minimal, but not quite detailed. Danny Boyle was amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature was amazing. He acts all the way through to his toes. They actually had the creature be intelligent, instead of just some silent monster, which was awesome. Great script. Johnny Lee Miller was great as Doctor Frankenstein. The cool thing about the show is that the two actors reverse their roles, so tomorrow there is a showing with Miller as the monster, but that is a bit much for me to do two nights in a row. I'm happy I saw the version I did. Oh what a version. Wish I could have seen it live on stage, that would have been awesome.

Afterwards, Carlos asked me out for a beer, and I said sure, so we had a beer at Milagros and talked about nerdy things like comics and books and art. He was a nice fellow. I said my goodbyes and went back to Nathan's. Nate came home, and we chatted a bit, but I left shortly after his return. It was late and all that. And I'll see him Saturday for Prometheus.

I hope tomorrow goes well.

My blog has tracked so much, and so many events, and so much growth and change. I wonder how long I'll keep it going? I don't have the biggest readership, but I think I do a lot of it mostly for myself. To keep track of things.

in a gilded frame

Ohhh my eyes are bugging out. I spent the late afternoon and night working on this painting, the nature of which I can't disclose because it is a present. Still, it looks really cool. I'm proud of myself, and the recipient better damn well like it! I don't think they read my blog...

Anyway.

Got up a bit earlier. Washed my sheets and pillowcases. Had a bagely breakfast with tea. In the afternoon, I rode the bike up to the Richmond District to run some errands. I got meandering in Golden Gate Park, AGAIN. I just can't get through that place in the proper direction/turns at all. Anyway. Got out all right in the end. Up 8th, down Cor...something, turn on 20th. Bought a sweet frame, which was on sale, to put art into (art which I made after I bought the frame). Then I breezed down to Green Apple Books. The wind was at my back, which helped with the hills. I bought a short story anthology and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, because if you title a book that, I can't help but buy it. Damn that smart author knowing his nerdy sci fi market! I'm excited to read it, but I will finish City of Thieves first, as per my "don't start anything till you finish something you are in the middle of" rule. I want to actively finish more books. Anthologies don't quite count, because those are short stories and those can be read whenever.

I rode back, and got sidetracked in Golden Gate Park. Of course.

Had a fried egg and turkey sandwich for a late lunch, and snacked through the rest of the day.

Carmen is gone, did I mention that? I think I did.

Today was devoted to personal pursuits. Tomorrow afternoon will be devoted to joby job pursuits...until I leave for Redwood City because AHHH OH MY GOD I SEE FRANKENSTEIN TOMORROW! AHHH!! FINALLY!

Also, this is blog post 1900. Pretty big number!

Inner Sunset

I finally found batteries for my camera, so later in the day I walked around and took pictures. Really nice day. Well, it became a nice day. In the morning, when I got up to move my car because of the street cleaners, it was a bit damp. Not so bad, and I certainly couldn't hear the rain on the roof, when it did rain. I had to move my car a bit later. I slept in a bit more than I was expecting. I exercised a lot yesterday, so I figure it was excusable. I still got up at 10. Something about being here, I can't sleep in like I can at other places.

Had the custard filled pastry for breakfast. Had an egg and turkey sandwich for lunch. So much good stuff. Dinner was pasta with proper sauce, and then we listened to Michael Jackson and cleaned the kitchen. Carmen is going to New Hampshire for a week or so. Just Josh and I, tending house. Won't be all that fun to be by myself during the day once again, but maybe that will spur me on?

Looked up some jobs. Accumulated a list of listings to apply for. Still haven't heard back from anyone. I should get a food handlers permit, just so I have that taken care of.

there were nuns in the park, their habits being tussled by the wind

Boy howdy, I'm tired! Did a lot of biking. Miles and miles of biking. But I did it, go me! But why was I biking, you ask? Well, I'll tell you!

But first: I got a haircut! Carmen cut my hair for me, after she cut Josh's hair. She took off quite a few inches and I decided to go back to bangs, and now I have an awesome new 'do. Love it.

I finished up the croissants I bought yesterday, and had some tea, and made a quick trip to the ATM because I don't know where is and isn't cash only, and it sucks to have no cash at a cash only place, and the ATM down the street has a cheap useage fee. Anyway. Did that, then I hopped on my bike and went to see Finn, my lovely friend Finn, for lunch & movie. I cruised down to 9th and into Golden Gate Park, and up to the Panhandle, and then to McAllister, then it was all downhill to Polk, and then a bit uphill to Eddy and then boom, I was at Brenda's! I put our name on the reservation board (chalk board system, very efficient) and in five minutes, Finn arrived. We hugged and chatted and were seated in about 15 minutes. We started with crayfish beignets, and they were perfectly spicy and lovely. They were so good, I had to text my dad about them. I followed that up with eggs benedict with molasses ham and hash browns. AHhh soooo good. I managed to finish the eggs, ham, and biscuits, but only got half way through the hash. A magnificent meal, and great company. Haven't seen Finn in over a year, but we always pick up right where we left off.

After consuming our brunch, we walked up to Japantown and wandered in the mall a little bit. The 4pm showing was sold out, so we got tickets for the 4:45 (there was even assigned seating in the theater, so we got to pick where we sat, and didn't even have to worry about sitting down early to claim our spots because of it, I like this system!). We grabbed a beer in the theater bar, and I drew in my sketchbook and we chatted some more, and everything was wonderful.

Moonrise Kingdom, the new Wes Anderson film, was absolutely adorable. I love his style of film making. Nice steady shots, lots of color, great costumes, many characters, and just all around quality. I feel that the first half of it was much stronger, but was all around pretty good. Life Aquatic will always be my favorite though. Everyone has their favorite Wes Anderson, and that one is mine. Moonrise Kingdom is around number 3 or 4. Mmmhmm.

We walked down the street a bit, and parted ways with a hug. The way back was up some hills, which I walked my bike up, because I'm just not at that level yet. I got a bit turned around trying to find my way to the Panhandle, but some ladies directed me in the right direction. Thanks nice ladies! I stopped frequently on the way back. And I overshot the left turn in Golden Gate Park and had to back track. But I got back. It was a meandering way back, but I got there without too much overshooting.

Now I am relaxing while Game of Thrones queues up. Once that is available, I'm heading to Redwood City. It will be a late night, but it is a tradition. I have to watch it with Nathan. I have to! So I'll probably edit this blog when I get back, but I may not. Anyway, yay! Lovely day.


12:39am edit:

Had a good drive to Redwood City. I stopped and filled up my tank. The Prius has officially rolled over to 200k miles. The finale of Game of Thrones was a bit underwhelming. Last episode was so intense, hard to follow it up. Anyway, lots of good set ups for next season, which should be GREAT. Shit is really going to hit the fan in so many plots. Ahhh great. We watched a bit of Luther, but it was getting late, so I headed home. Not many cars on the road at Midnight on a Sunday. I have to remember to get up and move my car because of the street cleaning. First and third Monday's on this street. Yup yup. Sucks though, because I got a really good parking spot. I hope it will still be there when I have to move it back. If not, oh well.

I found a fork and the six of clubs

Ohhh I ate a big dinner and it is still sitting in my tummy, being all full and digesty. My stomach is getting quite soft in general...I need to work out. Need to bike more, except these damn hills! Tomorrow I'll be doing a lot of biking, though...like 30 minutes one way worth of biking! So that will be good. It'll just about kill me on the way back, provided I don't get lost or something. AHhh. Adventuuuure.

I really need to get out more and explore the city. I'm living in San Francisco, there is tons to do, why am I not doing it?

Anyway, Googled some screenprinting shops. There is a pretty cool one that Josh mentioned. I just need to figure out my plan of attack. My...method of getting people to hire me for jobs that may not exist. How the hell do you do that?

I went out in the afternoon, got some pastries and headphones (a buck fifty for some ear buds at Ichiban Kan, holy cow! I needed some because my main headphones are just too big for casual use) and then wandered into Golden Gate Park. Meandered through the paths, sat for a bit, listened to my audio book, ate a pastry, tried not to have a quarter life crisis, wandered some more.

Carmen and Stephen worked on the song. Josh worked on his work. I filled my brush pen with an ink wash, and now I have an ink wash brush for adding middle values to my sketches! Hurrah! I played with that for a bit.

Sixish, sevenish? We four walked down to Social and got dinner. I got a beer and a cheeseburger, and they were good. And we split dessert. I patted my tummy heartily afterwards, though now I am getting aware of my tummy...damn I need to bike more. Just a little bit of regular exercise helps. Now that I have the small headphones, I should make a daily pledge to get out and take a walk. Go up a hill and draw something. And since I have my watch back in action, I can time myself. Yeah. Take walks. Get the blood pumping on a regular basis. It isn't so much my diet (well it is, I can't help myself when it comes to sweets) but moreso the years worth of not exercising like I used to. Yes! Walk more. Walk and listen to stuff.

Back at the house, we three watched Sherlock. Yay Sherlock! Now it is time for bed. Ohhh my belly.

mmm froyo

I made this weird pasta dish for dinner. This tomato parsley garlic thing. I don't know how I feel about it...I think I did something wrong. But Carmen and Josh ate it and didn't seem too adverse to its taste. Not my best, but not...totally awful.

They went to this shindig and I stayed home.

I applied to some more jobs. Some part time stuff. Fun things.

Went down to Irving Street with Carmen and went veggie shopping, and we got yogurt afterwards. Yay frozen yogurt! I fried myself up a couple eggs and put them on toast. That was good.

I feel less frustrated today, but still...ahhh. I don't know. I want more to happen.

Anyway, Star Trek time!

caramel by the sea

Spent a lot of the day driving. I don't like the road from Redwood City of San Jose. Too windy. The drive from San Jose to Santa Cruz & Monterey is nice though. Rolling hills, nice atmosphere, warm, not winding. It is a long journey from San Francisco to Carmel, quite the journey considering I was applying for service positions, and not art jobs. But I need interview experience, and if they are willing to talk to me because I show up, then I'm going to show up. Don't want to bumble in the (hopeful) eventuality that a studio will bring me in for a chat.

I printed out some resumes and left at 1pmish. It was a gorgeous day, and the ride was nice. It is an hour from Santa Cruz to Carmel, and an hour and a bit from San Francisco to Santa Cruz.

I applied first to this lovely resort ranch. It had deer and quail and everyone was really nice. They even gave me a preliminary interview! Chatted with Rosie and did a lot better at talking myself up and my strengths than I did with the prop rental company interview. She even introduced me to Clint, who was more in the department of the job I was sort of applying for (I wrote down server, but I'll take what they think I'd qualify most for). Pool server job. Keeping the pool area nice, tending to what people may need. Be outside and on my feet, and in a nice place (the resort is very pretty, did I mention the quail?). Not art job, but could be full time, and if it is full time then that gets me income and I'd move and start being independent. It was a long way to go for something outside of my field, but people within my field are not getting back to me. I need to be more patient, yeah, but...I'm ready to work! I'm tired of mooching, and being in transition.

I've been out of school a year now. A year!

And it is good to get familiar with the Bay Area to Santa Cruz drive. I like SC. Need to hit that place up some more.

Anyway, after that resort, I went to another one, though that was more a hotel. Applied there, but no immediate interview.

I drove to Monterey and had some pizza at a really sketchy place. The sign was really nice, but inside was really...dang. Looked like a front for some other sort of business. They didn't put any effort into maintaining it. Anyway. Wandered around Monterey a bit. Looked for bookstores and pastry shops, but they were closed. Found a watch repair store and he had a battery, so I replaced my watch battery on the spot. I almost didn't wear it today. Good thing I did! Now I have a working watch. Hurray.

From there, I headed back and made super good time back to San Francisco. Two hours is a lot of driving, but at least the roads are good and it isn't rainy and I'm in a car with good ga-oh man, it probably rolled over to 200,000 miles! I need to see if it did.

Got back at 9pm. Feel very tired. Tomorrow I'll apply for more jobs. Just have to keep...doing it. Eventually something will happen.

surely you can't be serious!

I took note of where we ate, but the notes are in my bag and I can't be bothered to fish them out. Carmen and I biked to the Richmond district and B-Star had seats, so we occupied them and waited for Josh. I ordered some appetizers, well just the fries, and we got a pitcher of this tasty ginger beer. Yum yum. Fries were good. Josh got some soup. It was interesting soup. Very complex with lots of things...I ate too much though. When my Ochazuke arrived, it was all I could do to get through the egg and salmon portion. It was all in a green tea broth, which was interesting, but I felt it overwhelmed the flavor of everything else. Still, I love me a poached egg. I was very stuffed, and Carmen and I walked down to the bookstore (Josh road on ahead). It was quite the packed used book store, though I couldn't quite spy anything to really make me extract my wallet.

We got home just at dark, and drank cocoa and watched telly. Star Trek followed by Airplane!. I noticed a few new humourous things in Airplane, though it wasn't quite as funny as I remember it being. I can now tell how really dated it is.

Spent the day looking, applying, and doing the job thing. Tomorrow I plan to go to Carmel. To actually DO IT this time.

Toasted bagel, tea, snacks. Rest of the day was pretty good. Watched some United States of Tara as well. There was more Odd Owl practicing going on, which I enjoy listening to. Good tunes and cool people.

Carmen said she could give me a haircut, and as it has been almost six months since my last time, I am well due for one.

I had a custard bun for dessert. Yay for Sheng Kee bakery!

Had a very good sleep, and still got up within my usual window of getting up.

No replies about jobs. Come ooon! Ah, well, have to be patient. From my end I am just one, from their end they probably have many. That takes time. In the afternoon, I walked down to Irving and swung by Ichiban Kan and got a business card holder (for other people's cards), a notebook, a little pen holder, a pen, and a little case for things. Nice and cheap and most of it was blue and cute. The ramen place I wanted to try didn't open for lunch till 5pm, so I sat in Golden Gate Park and sorted through my satchel, and organized things a bit. It was a very nice day, but I still needed a coat. Redwood City is just generally hot, but here it is sunny but not warm. I don't know which I prefer.

The ramen was a bit underwhelming. The noodles were not as thick as I like. Broth and meat was good enough, but I won't go about recommending it to people any time soon. I got some yams, bananas, and onions on the way back. Gotta have bananas! I'm eating a lot of them these days. And apples, but I always eat a lot of apples. Granny smith. Num nums.

In the evening, there was a litttle barbecue. Yo, Justin, and...Kyle! yes, Kyle came over. We peeled onions and I cut up yams and we made skewers from the ingredients (there were shrimp on these skewers as well). Tasty food, and it grilled up perfectly. There were salmon burgers as well, but I wasn't that hungry due to my late ramen lunch. It was a nice dinner. Lovely company. Always nice to meet new people.

After they left, we watched Star Trek, but I started to nap. Now it is bed time. Another day. The job hunt continues ever on. Wednesday already? Baaahhh.

Farmer's Market Bot 3000

Painted this robot for Josh's birthday, which was today so it doesn't ruin anything. I'll get a proper scan eventually. Anyway, spent my evening finishing that up, while they watched Star Trek (Josh hasn't seen the finished one as of this writing, he went to bed before I was done). Josh & Carmen went out for sushi, and I worked. Before that, we walked down to Irving and that was nice. Checked out Ichiban Kan, and I'm totally going to get one of those fabric pen holder things. Going to be so organizational with my art supplies! Carmen got a sweet coat for a buck at Goodwill.

While Josh was having a birthday lunch with a friend, Carmen and I rolled up our shirt sleeves for his surprise. We put a new cool shelf in his studio, and some better organizational drawers, and hung some art that Carmen had framed. It looks nice. Josh was very surprised and digs it. A much tidier space. He got home right as we were done vacuuming.

There was a birthday tart for breakfast instead of a cake with dinner. It was tasty! Only three candles needed to be blown out, as Josh is only three years old. Duuuh.

I left Nathan's place pretty early, because I knew I'd be helping with the surprise set up and didn't know when Josh would be gone, so I figured better get there early and be safe. I also put some more gas in my car. Twenty bucks puts a good amount of gas in a Prius. It is also nice to drive when traffic is very light. It was a quick trip from Redwood City to San Francisco when there are not many cars to slow everything down. I have the trip just about memorized now.

Very fun day. Tarts, treats, walks, painting. Now back to the job hunt...tomorrow.

was that needed? probably not.

Nate and I went to see a late night showing of Men in Black 3. It was okay, I guess. Not really a needed third movie, and it was pretty obvious how it was shot to exemplify 3D filming. Ahh, oh well.

Woke up early. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up. Had some tea, had some toast, did my Internet rounds, watched some Star Trek with Carmen. I left San Francisco at around noon. Went to Redwood City for my usual Sunday routine of Game of Thrones & Nathan. I went to Michael's and got some things for projects. I did some shopping at Trader Joe's as well. Much easier to do it outside of San Francisco than within. No worry about streets and parking and people.

Anyway, got to Nate's. We did some more food shopping, though that was Nate shopping. Got some sandwiches, and ate them in the yard while chatting with Chad, Oleg, & other people. I worked on a drawing. Nathan played a game. We watched Game of Thrones, and walked to the theater for a late showing of Men in Black. Pretty fun day, all in all. Now it is late, and sleep is needed. I'm staying in Rewood City tonight and heading back to San Francisco early tomorrow.

Creature Feature

Spent the last two hours with my blog open in another tab waiting to be written while I got distracted by other things on the Internet.

My ticket for Frankenstein is the one with Cumberbatch as the Creature. Ohhh I'm excited! I wonder if there will be a Redwood City meetup? You know, where fans coordinate at the theater and get dinner afterwards or something. Maybe I should orchestrate it? How hard could it be? Since it is a public place, I probably won't be abducted. Not like I'd be inviting them back to Nathan's place or whatever. Be good to meet some nerds. Local ones.

Oh I got distracted again. Anyway! I've been doing a really good job at getting up between 9 and 10 am. Just that earlier start on the day gets me going (also having people moving about the apartment, the presence of others motivates me more I suppose). There was an honest to goodness screen printer job listing today! In Santa Cruz! You betcha I applied for that. Damn, I hope they interview me and then decide to hire me. I'd be so good for it. It was part time to start, with the possibility of full time. Peeeerfect!

Phil and Stephen came by to record. Chatted with Phil a bit. The song is sounding nice. It is a good diddy. I did my laundry. Yay! Clean clothes are excellent to have. Finished off my leftover curry. Yum. Drank a ton of tea. Yum. Looked for more jobs, though that screen printing one is tops.

Dinner was salmon over a spinach salad. Tasty salmon. Nicely marinated. We watched some Star Trek, and then took a walk and got some waffles on the walk. I got a waffle with Nutella and banana, Josh & Carmen got theirs with Nutella and strawberry, though Josh ate most of it. Back at the house, we watched even more Star Trek original series. It just does not look all that great in high def. Daaang.

Hmmm. To orchestrate a meet up or to not?

horse, indian, and cowboy

Tried to get Carmen & Josh into Spaced. We watched the first episode. Wasn't quite sure how much they were into it. The first episode isn't the best. The performance art one is my absolute favorite. Ah, oh well. Before that we watched A Town Called Panic, which is a very odd French stop motion animation film. Funny and very creative, just quite odd.

I made dinner! I made a vegetable curry. Potatos and yams and tomatos and other good stuff. It was quite tasty too. Took me forever to cut up all the ingredients, but I'm also a really slow cutter of things. I also took lots of breaks. It cooked up quite fast, and easily! Yum yum yum.

In the afternoon, I walked down to Irving for some shopping. Got some more facial cleanser, because I was running out and I am pretty satisfied with the brand (Cetaphil). Got my apples and bananas and curry ingredients. Also got some pastries from Sheng Kee. And lunch was a hot dog. Yum yum yum. I also got some tea, Earl Gray. To replace that which I finished off. I love me some strong black tea. Looked up more jobs. Most I'm not quite enthusiastic about, but ya never know what will and won't kindle your spirit.

So jobs, curry, groceries, movie. It was all quite nice. Now the weekend is here! I have a project I need to get started on tomorrow...

so much biking, my bum will be so sore

It is past midnight so....Happy Towel Day to all the hoopy froods out there! (May 25th is Towel Day).

Went to Taco Night at Erics, with Carmen and Josh. Met Addy and Alex and Aaron and Cory and...a whole bunch of people. The tacos were delicious. I drank a bit, and chatted about all sorts of things. It was a bike ride there and back, but it feels good to be on a bike. I'm out of shape, but not totally bad at it. Again, it is just that last hill that I can't quite make it up. Josh was saying it was cold, but I didn't think so. Probably because my blood was pumping. Anyway, the shindig was fun. Met some nice people. Everyone I've met thus far has been friendly. Good sign for a place.

Earlier in the day, I got a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch. That was good. I've been here a week, but it feels much longer. Maybe because the social life here is more active? Ah. Yeah. I applied to a few more jobs, and followed up on this internship (they got back to me! Dad knows who "they" is, I don't want to say it here for fear of jinxing or counting my eggs before they hatched). So I did the job things. Also watched an art video feed of Scott C. making a painting. That was cool.

A pretty good day. Work stuff in the afternoon, shindig in the evening.

Tomorrow I'm going to make potato curry for dinner. Hopefully I don't screw it up and poison Carmen & Josh.

zzzing

I suddenly feel very tired. Did I not drink enough tea? Did I not sleep enough?

Today I applied to some internships and some jobs. Yay. My not art resume doesn't look too shabby.

Still not sure if I'll drive down tomorrow or...hmmm.

Yeah, my mind is wandering around right now. Did some drawing as well.

Ate a sammich, ate a bagel and shmear. Josh and Carmen went out for dinner, and Carmen is at a show and I showed Josh how to play mancala on a makeshift board.

Really not sure if I want to actually find work in San Francisco. The city is so big and daunting. It makes me feel nervous. I just can't get relaxed here, and I don't enjoy that. I do need to pop down to Santa Cruz again. Give that place another feel.

kick it trill trill

Oh man, suddenly getting very tired. I did some biking, and that...ooh. I'm out of shape.

So my trial on CS5 expired, and Josh and Carmen have CS4, so while you can go forward with files, you can't go back. So I spent the afternoon rewriting my resume in CS4. Goody. It looks about the same, though I can't remember the type sizes I used. Tomorrow I shall make a "regular person job" resume, and start applying to not graphic design places. Though there are a few jobs in my "to apply to" list that are artsy. It seems like in the Santa Cruz/Monterey area there is a lot of seasonal jobs coming up, so if I can get one of those, I can get the money rolling in and then I can make connections and try to get an art job before summer ends. Ya know? I think that is my main plan of attack.

So tomorrow: make a not so art focused resume and apply to jobs. Also plan a Carmel course of action (there is a desk job that you have to apply for in person, and it seems like they are doing mass hirings, so it seems a good chance, plus it is just nice to get out of the house.)

Carmen wasn't feeling well. Something didn't agree with her. She just now discovered that saltines are good for an upset stomach. That and ginger ale.

I had a sandwich and snacked on this and that.

In the evening, it was Erin's birthday, so we biked over to her place. Biked into Golden Gate Park and down through the "panhandle" which is some sort of bike short cut thingy...thing. It was a good ride. Not too bad. Met lots of new people, and some people (well, Adam, Vanessa, Stephen) are becoming familiar faces. Had some soupy vegetables. Talked movies with Adam. Played some Wii. I pointed out to Erin that her roommate drinks the same whiskey that Ron Swanson does (Lagavulin).

The bike home was tougher. The last hill. I just can't do it!

I have things to do tomorrow. Need to make some real progress. REAL BIG AWESOME PROGRESS. I've been in San Francisco a week now, just about.

rapscallions

Watching Star Trek with C & J as the day winds down.

I looked up more jobs. Thought about how there are lots of summer hirings going on, probably, right now in certain places. Got some bananas and apples from the market. Looked up non art jobs. I need to make a non art resume, so that I can apply for a broader range of jobs. Get some sort of work. Still not sure where I want to be, be it San Francisco or Santa Cruz.

I had a yummy sandwich for lunch, and we had quesedillas for dinner. We went to Social Brewery after dinner and had tasty brews with this guy Tim, who is visiting from Seattle. I think he is doing some work for Pop Cap in San Francisco, or something. I'm not quite sure of the specifics. He was a mile a minute talker. The brewskies were good.

Tomorrow I'll...I'm not sure. I think I'll get into InDesign and work on my resume, and maybe day after tomorrow I'll go down to Santa Cruz and party crash some screen printing studios, and talk to them about work and things. I need plans.

To Redwood City and Back

Sundays are good days!

Carmen was busy with her music, Josh was busy with something...else. After tea and toast and snacks, I walked around the area a bit. Looked at the cool houses. Went up the hill, went up steps. I wish I could locate my rechargeable batteries for my camera, so that I could actually take some photos. I'm getting out and seeing things, but not taking any pictures. The fancy camera spoiled me. That one takes such nice pictures, and so easily! Ah, oh well.

I saw at 16th & Lomita and drew this pepto pink house. This cute guy on a bicycle totally checked me out. I cheered on this other guy who was huffing it up the hill on his bike. I know how that feels.

When I got back to the house, I put some color on the little drawing. I sort of like it...but it could be better. Need to draw more. Always need to draw more.

At 5ish, I drove to Redwood City. I needed to get my coats, but also Nate and I had plans to watch Game of Thrones together, because that is what we do. You gotta watch the show with people who know what is going on, and what is important. He had a burrito waiting for me. What a brother! We drank good beer, looked at the eclipse, and watched telly. Well, we watched Community and Game of Thrones and the last half of Wet Hot American Summer. Us Spencer Kids, we love our telly. Game of Thrones was awesome, as always. The next episode is set to be AWESOME. Ships and fighting and all that cool stuff.

My car is driving fine, which makes me happy.

Back in San Francisco, we watched Sherlock, because Carmen & Josh haven't seen it yet. Oh I've watched that first episode SO many times. Perfect way to end the evening...though I think I'm going to stay up and watch Mad Men. Having my own room has its downside...I don't have as early a bed time as when I shared a studio with Nate. HMmm.

I'm with the band

Wheee! Spent all day in the recording studio with Odd Owl. I was filming them while they recorded. Eight hours, but it didn't feel like that long, all things said.

In the morning, I burned my first bagel, and cut myself cutting my second. Still, it was tasty stuff when smeared with creme cheese. Also had a cuppa tea.

At 1pm, I got the call and put the camera and tripod in my car, and off I went to Daly City! It was trafficy, but not too complex. Didn't even miss an exit. The recording studio was pretty nifty. Lots of equipment and cables and things I kept well away from, lest I mess something up. I got my tripod set up, and filmed bits and pieces of Carmen, Stephen, and Adam (Phil was working and wouldn't be in to record till later) and when they got into the full practices, I got shots of them going through the whole song separately, and from different angles when available. Hope I got enough for them to use, for whatever purpose.

There was an hour break, and Carmen, Adam and I got sushi. I got a tempura plate. Num nums. Phil arrived then, and he got some sushi as well. We chatted about Doctor Who and then it was back to work! Lots of set up, and Stephen and Adam took down the drum kit and other things. At the end of the day, it was just Phil putting his guitar track in.

I think the new track sounds awesome. Can't wait for them to complete it.

I had to park a few blocks over, but it's all good. I now have a key to the house! Yay!

Now we are watching Star Trek, and I'm snacking.

the sky is pretty at night

Had a nice long walk with C & J after dinner, which was tasty Pad Thai. Went into Golden Gate Park a bit. Found a quesadilla maker. They found one, in a box. And took it home. Hahaa.

Looked for more joby jobs. Want to visit Santa Cruz again. Somewhere more mellow. Carmen and I drove downtown and went to Trader Joe's for shopping. I got some Trillfood. It was so...crowded. Lots of people and big buildings and foreign roads. Ahhh. Overwhelming! Good to see a bit more of the city, though I haven't really explored.

I had toast and tea for breakfast. And we got some tasty buns from a Chinese Bakery. Num nums! And the pad thai was excellent. I've agreed to make dinner once a week, so I need to look up a recipe. A recipe I am capable of making. MMmhmm!

Phil dropped by for a bit after practice with Carmen (well he came back with Carmen) but he was on his way pretty quick.

I need to take some serious initiative. Get my feet moving. Get out there. Get my name on people's lips.

But I also really want to find work somewhere...more mellow. I'm a pretty slow paced person, I feel. Big cities are just so...big!

red shirts & risotto

My trial version of InDesign expired, so that makes it quite tricky to update my resume. Buuut, I saved all the various resumes that I wrote up, so I have a bunch of .pdf versions of different configurations. Like, ones for graphic design and production and screen print and all that jazz. Sucks but not totally awful. Applied for a few more jobs.

Carmen made shortbread, and combined with their jam? Ohhh boy. Good stuff. Totally getting spoiled with good cooking. I hope to learn a few tricks and things. I want to be a better cook.

For lunch, we went down and got some Vietnamese sandwiches. Nummy goodness, and quite affordable. Later on I finished up my pulled pork sandwich leftovers. Sandwich is for sure the type of food that I like the most.

I kept on the down low in my room for a bit while Carmen was giving some vocal lessons, then it was risotto time! Damn good cooking. Very hearty. After dinner, we watched some Star Trek. The original series. Ohhh the first episode did not age well. Quite, err, sexist...and strange. The next one was good, though still a bit odd. Amazing the difference 45 years can make.

Tomorrow? More jobs. Also will look more into those agencies. That is how Josh said he got a job...through a hiring type firm place. I do feel more motivated here, but that could just be the momentum from the move.

trill in SF

I am in San Francisco! Yay! And the job hunt continues with a fervor. It is also nice to have more people around, Josh & Carmen will be here far more than Nathan. And Carmen works from home, so I'll be able to pick her brain about things.

Nate when off to work and I bid him farewell at that time. I played some Skyrim, and then got to packing things up. I left a good amount behind. Well, not a good amount, but enough to not overwhelm my guest status. Clothes, art supplies, etc. Every move, I can take less with me. That is, until I find a job and an apartment. Then I have to start getting things again. But that is...well hopefully not too far away.

I left Redwood City at 6:20ish. Car drove just fine on the freeway. There was a bit of traffic, but I wasn't too held up. An hour between here and there.

I arrived and then we drove down to the Tenderloin District to eat at Farmer Brown; a southern food place. I had pulled pork and a pint. There was also gumbo and jambalaya and catfish. Though that is what they ate. It was an excellent meal. Back at the house, there was street parking for me. Yay! Josh helped me bring my stuff in, and it didn't seem like that much stuff. It all tucked away quite neatly. It helped that there was a chest of drawers and space under the bed to tuck things away.

Nathan just texted me saying it was lonely at the apartment. Awww.

vampires, zombies, nords, Oh my!

I made tacos! Delicious tacos! I should have bought eggs, so that I could make a scramble, but I feel they might go to waste because Nathan isn't around to cook that often.

I got my car back today! Dad did some sweet talk and got the cost of repairs down. The shop probably thought they could pull a fast one because I'm a gentle lady, but they weren't prepared for my papa! The car runs super better. A lot more was wrong with it than just the loss of power. Now it doesn't rattle and rev when it is idling at stop lights and such. Sounds very much less like it is having a fit, in fact it doesn't seem like it is having one at all. Go car!

Listening to The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (part two in this vampire book trilogy) and Skyrimed it up. Probably my last night playing Skyrim. Waaah, sad. Well, I might play it a bit tomorrow before I head out to San Francisco.

Did some shopping. Nate is unable to play his precious Diablo III. He will eventually. He is playing the Day Z Arma II mod in the meantime.

I'm a good listener

Nate is bringing home the Jack in the Box. Yaaay. Fast food!

I should introduce exercise into my regimen...one of these days. I'll probably eat healthier with Josh & Carmen, but the good kind of healthy. Not the cardboard kind of healthy.

I had a sandwich for lunch. Good old sandwiches, they'll never let me down.

I listened to Douglas Adams do an audiobook of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, while I worked on job things. That was quite good.

Played some Skyrim. Have to beat them game before I leave! (Just kidding, there is no beating Skyrim).

It will be nice to be in a colder climate. I'm not quite ready for the heat. That being said, I do sort of want to visit Santa Cruz again. Want to get more of an idea of the place, because it seems like a "Trillian" sort of city.

Sunday, blissful Sunday

Had a sleep in. Had hummus and chips and lots of cups of tea. That was swell. Played Skyrim. Nathan was off mountain biking all day long. They went down to Santa Cruz, I think. I took it pretty easy this Sunday. Called mom. Drank more tea. Drew a bit. Nate came home, so in the evening, we sat out on the porch and ate pizza. I had Pida in my lap, because Pida is a sweet doggy. Not as sweet as Holly, of course.

In the evening, we watched Game of Thrones, and it was awesome.

I think I did more today, but I really didn't. Need to pack a couple things up for when I relocate to San Francisco. And make a list of screenprinting studios to ambush check out.

A list is what I need to make.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to a lovely mummy!

saturrday

Nathan is watching In Bruges on his monitor. Ahhh I love this movie.

I spent the evening drawing. Working on the Quentyn Martell drawing, and a little something something for mother's day. Nathan brought home a burrito after mountain biking. I watched Alien, he played this Zombie mod on a game. It was a good afternoon and evening.

Morning and early afternoon sucked. Took the car in to the shop, bright and early. Didn't seem like I really needed to make an appointment, but it was for the best I think. Better to have it, and have them ready for me. One of the car helpers said "Hey Washington" to me, so I dug that. But yeah, turned in my car and got a shuttle back. Had some orange juice, toast, and other breakfast. Nate went biking. I got the call about how much the repairs will cost, and I emailed Dad the amount. Lots of back and forth and now my car is getting fixed, and I'll get it back on Tuesday or so. Hopefully we'll get another 50k miles out of it without any other major improvements, ya know. Hopefully by the time it kicks the can, I'll be all employed and making bucks and things. That is a good thing to hope for.

So car bummer for the first half of the day, movie fun time and drawing and burrito in the second half. It balances out?

car-no-go

Well, I wanted to write up how awesome the Odd Owl show was. But I didn't get there. I was just getting onto the freeway, when my engine decided it was not having the idea of going faster than 45mph. The brake light came on, though I didn't know why. So I pulled off the immediate next exit, called Carmen to say I wasn't coming, and returned home. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I have a car appointment. Going to get it checked out and all that jazz. 9am. Wheee. Prius man, when the warning light goes on you really have no leeway. You have to get that engine checked. Immediately.

Ahh.

Didn't get up to much else the rest of the day. Car stuff. Had some pasta.

Weekend is here. Let's see how this car stuff resolves itself. Booo.

Poor Quentyn

Just what I spent the night working on. About four hours. A piece of fan art of Quentyn Martell, from the end of A Dance with Dragons. Want to finish it tomorrow afternoon, before I head off to the Odd Owl show. The text isn't going to stick with the piece, it is just a placeholder...of sorts. Anyway. Yay! Drawing! I need to get a move on with my ideas and concepts. Keep making art.

I didn't play that much Skyrim today...because I got stuck in a really tough dungeon and now need Nathan to fight my way out of it. Speaking of Nate, it is Midnight and he isn't home yet. But I also think that on Thursday, he and coworkers go out for dinner or something.

Made another food errand. Nate needed his Ovaltine. Hahah. The check engine light came promptly on. I'm going to clear the codes after a drive into San Francisco, and see if the problems compound. Agghh. I did NOT want car troubles this soon. I know it is pushing 200k miles, but COME ON!

Anyway. Did more job stuff that feels fruitless, but gotta keep at it.

a common Wednesday

I'm totally kicking butt at Skyrim.

On Sunday I will relocate to San Francisco and do the job hunt from there.

So no more Skyrim for Trill, come Sunday.

Did another check on my car, and only one of the codes came up. Just need to keep a watchful eye on it.

Washed some dishes. Looked for jobs. Mmmhmm.

Listened to the radio comedy Elven Quest. It was silly. Needed a break from all the American Gods and The Unbelievable Truth I've been listening to.

Here is a drawing.

Introducing Nate to Lily Allen, because I explained that her song Alfie is about her brother Alfie Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones. Yup. Nathan played my character on Skyrim tonight, and it is tough watching someone else play your character because they don't do it how you would do it. Yup.

Another day for slim job pickings. Boo. Need to start looking up screen printing studios to cold call and stuff. Mmmn.

Did the code checked on my car. Dad, I emailed you the codes, check them out and give me advice. Yup yup?

When I went outside, I just started sweating immediately. 81 degrees is 14 too many for me.

Later on in the day, I went shopping. Bananas, apples, bagel shmear, chocolate milk. Yumm!

Sort of a lack luster day. Hard to get enthusiasm for the job quest. But get it I must.

Ah, I also leveled up a bit in Skyrim. That will be a good thing about being at Carmen & Josh's. No Skyrim. That is a distracting game, and when I don't continually die horribly it only makes me want to play it more, because it means I'm getting the hang of it and getting better and all that jazz. Yeah.

mediocre monday, though I did kick butt in Skyrim

Jobs are slim pickings. Need to start the cold calling and awesome elbow my way in somewhere. Just been applying to people who say they want resumes. Well they SAY that, but they never get back to me, even the jobs for which I qualify.

Anyway. When I first opened my eyes this morning, I got a beam of sunlight right in my retinas. Gahhh. What a way to wake up.

Looked at meager jobs. Listened to The Unbelievable Truth. Ate a sandwich. Played Skyrim. Contemplated my life a bit. Swept a bit.

Drew a bit in the evening, but the image is a Tumblr inside joke that makes no sense outside of context, so I won't be posting it here.

Nate and I played this tandem car explosion shooter game thing. Can't remember the name of it, but it was quite fun.

Need to do some shopping tomorrow. OH and that diagnostic thing. Need to do that. I have all day yet still I don't get to doing certain things.

Sunday. Sweet Sunday.

Pretty mellow day here with the Spencer kids. Oleg and Chad were out doing something. Well, Chad was in Washington. Haven't seen hide nor hair of Oleg.

I made bacon & eggs for breakfast. It was good. We had fancy organic orange juice for breakfast with it. Nathan had toast, and I opted out.

After I made my internet rounds, and Nathan played his games, we went outside for a hike. He loaded his bike into his car and off we went to the Redwood City hills. It was a nice day for it. Warm, but not so hot. He peddled up the hills, and I hiked along aside him. I sat for a bit and read out of City of Thieves while he went up and down some hills. We looked at this sandstone formation, though Utah was much cooler in terms of rock formations. Wind and erosion can only get you so far. The park ranger dude that we passed on the way out was a UW grad, and he and Nate gabbed about being Huskies. I had to admit I brought dishonor on the family by being a PNCA Sloth. Oh woe.

It was a nice day to be out. Everyone on the trail was very friendly.

Afterwards we went to In-N-Out and got burgers. The pretty Chevy in the drive through in front of us had trouble starting. Nathan got out to help push it, but it started up before he had to. The burger was tasty. Mmm.

Back at the house, Nate and I sat outside and read and played with the dogs. We absorbed the last of the day's warmth. Then it was dinner time. Well, muffin and chips and hummus time. We are not complicated chefs. We watched more television (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones). And it was intense. And awesome. Now Nate is all caught up on Breaking Bad. Ohh man it is SO GOOD. Yup yup.

green & purple tell a tale

Nate and I are watching Breaking Bad, because now we are at the end of the season and it is all intense, and you can't NOT watch a bunch of it.

Now that I'm on Twitter, I can find out things. Things like Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, and Benedict Cumberbatch are in the Bay Area. Right now. Ahhhh!! How exciting. If I ran into any of them, I would probably implode.

Anyway. We both slept in and had oatmeal for breakfast. Saturday! Whoo!

We played with the doggies, and then went to Costco, because while we have food, we need more, and greater variety. This Costco was much larger, and quite disorienting. It also had much more selection, and different brands, oh, and hard liquor. It had my beloved Lagavulin, but I couldn't convince Nathan to buy it. Boo. He got me delicious cookies instead. Got bread and hummus and these lovely honey drinks that are made locally and all sorts of goodies. And we got hot dogs after, because we always get them at Costco. Yum yum tasty. Now we are up to our knees in tasty food. Need to get some shmears for the bagels, and some cheese to shred.

Back at the house, we chilled with the dogs. Played Skyrim. Watched Breaking Bad. Snacked. Tomorrow we are going to go hiking. Watched Adventure Time. Chad and Oleg are off doing something else for the weekend, so it is just the Spencer kids.

Ahhh Breaking Bad is so good.

Oh, we also got the mail and I got the car diagnostic thing. I'll do the diagnostic check come morning.

Pida is a sweet doggie

Applied for some more postings, though the pickings were slim. Still no word back from anybody. Ah, oh well.

Played some Skyrim. Ate a sandwich. Ate a banana and an apple. Drank tea.

Refreshed and looked for more jobs. It's a boring yet essential cycle. I wonder how fruitful things will be, if and when I stay with Carmen & Josh. There is more potential there, because San Francisco is a town town, where as Redwood City is just sort of...a place between other places.

Anyway. Nate came home early. We watched Breaking Bad and Community and looked after the dogs Pida and Mehki, because Chad is up in Washington for the weekend.

Here are some cute pictures:

HULK SMASH!!

I got my ticket for Danny Boyle's Frankenstein. It will be a screening on June 6th, and June 7th. I MAY break down and get a ticket for the 7th as well. I will not be missing this, either way. In the show, the lead actors would change roles. So I would like to see it with both actors (Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch) as both Frankenstein and the Monster. AHhhh!! I was hyperventilating a little bit when my purchase went through.

Anyway. Applied to some more jobs.

Ran some errands. Drove all the way down into Palo Alto trying to find a place to get fuel injector cleaner. I mean, I probably could have stopped at a bunch of places but I kept missing them and El Camino Real is a bitch of a road to go back the other way on. Anyway. Put that stuff in my tank, and got some gas, and then did some shopping at Safeway. Mmm food.

Had a bit of a headache.

Played some Skyrim. That made my headache go away. Also ate some fruit. Yay fruit.

Nate came home at 10:30, we chilled a bit, and then at 11:15 we went to the theater and got tickets for the 12:06 showing of The Avengers. Hurray! Summer movie season has started!

Movie did not disappoint. Action, characters, humor, all that fun stuff. It is 3am though, so I can't give it a full write up. Still. It was much fun. Hulk was really, really good.

Anyway. Goodnight!

just say YES to illustrators

Did y'all like the Odd Owl drawing?

After my oatmeal breakfast, I got back on the job hunting front. One job specifically listed "no illustrators". I applied anyway, but jeeze! Way to be all like "no" to talented people. Whatever.

But yeah, job hunting. Fun stuff. Applying and applying and hoping someone will through you a bone and get you in for an interview.

Nathan brought home Jack in the Box for dinner. His treat! What a nice brother. We watched Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. Fun film.

Didn't run errands. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll run errands.

just worked on that piece. that is it. yes.

Was planning on job searching, but finishing the drawing for Odd Owl took all day. So much repetitive detail, and so much effort to keep from getting sloppy. Still, I am pretty damn pleased with it. Haven't drawn a house in a long while. I had Oz playing in the background and I drew drew drew! Then I finished it up, drove down to Kinkos and they scanned them for me. And it was a good scan too. Didn't need a whole lot of tweaking.

Need to make a grocery run tomorrow. And put gas in the car. Time to make an errand list! Oh, and look and apply for jobs. Need to start that cycle again.

Been here almost a month now. Blimey!

Old Victorian Shirt Design for Odd Owl

11" x 17"

Micron Pen.

at the 'mat

Check that out! About four-five hours worth of work? Lining things always takes longer than I think it does, but that just means that I find it to be a fun activity. Watched Game of Thrones, The Borgias, Star Trek, and listened to some Unbelievable Truth while working on it. I mean...I don't really WATCH watch them, just noise while I work. This is what I like. What I like so much. Just working, having it go relatively well, and having something cool on in the background. Good life.

In the afternoon, I drove down to the laundromat to do my laundry. First I stopped by Safeway because I needed cash for the quarter machine. The car sounds the same and drives the same, it just has those darn warning lights. Boo on those.

Anyway, laundry at the laundromat was an experience (I say experience because this is my first time at a laundromat, every place I've lived in has had laundry on site, either in my parent's house's laundry room, or within the complex I live in). The nice owner helped me get my cash in the machine (it was having issues, even though my fiver was really flat). I talked to Madeline on the phone during the wash cycle, and read City of Thieves during the drying cycle. I made the mistake of putting all my laundry into one dryer, which took a while, when I should have broken it up into two dryers. Ah, oh well. This lady used disinfectant wipes on all the surfaces before she put her clothes down. I thought that was a bit overly hypochondriac. The laundromat looked positively spotless. I folded my laundry, and drove back.

I whipped out the pencils and pens and got to work. They want this design pretty soon. Who am I to deny Odd Owl? Oh right, they are paying clients. They have the moneys, I do the work. And it is good work.

Laundry & Art. Pretty good Monday.

houses inside apartments

Natey went bike riding, and I worked on my art stuffs. Lots of drawing. Lots of trying to figure out how to invent a house that straddles looking realistic but also playful. It is a tricky game. Also it is tough bouncing between references and choosing what to edit in and out. In some the roof looks a certain way, and others the porch looks different. Fun to amalgamate it all. I'm super excited for this piece though. I hope to finish it tomorrow. Lots of inking ahead of me. This is what I live for. Yeaaah. Fun stuff.

When he got back from his day's fun, Nate ordered some pizza. So we ate pizza, drank soda, and watched Breaking Bad. Damn good way to spend the evening. We also watched Game of Thrones, which was AMAZING! Best episode yet.

Didn't do much with my day, besides art and watch stuff. Ah. Another week starts. More job applying. Hopefully that corporate event prop place calls me in for some temp work. That would be cool. That job sounds pretty cool, and I think I'd enjoy doing that kind of thing. The art that I like to do, I can do. I just want to earn money next to other creative people. But if a design/printing studio wanted me? That would also be cool.

Just please, someone hire me! I'm really cool. I swear.

ahhh Saturday

Nathan ended up not going mountain biking, so we spent the day hanging out. Got some delicious burritos from a special little place. Quite tasty, and just the right amount of spicy. We also got some beers at BevMo, and they had Ninkasi Sleigh'r, which is pretty much my favorite beer ever, and it is seasonal to the winter time, so yaaay! So we sat outside, ate burritos, and relaxed. Chatted with Chad and Oleg for a while too. Well they chatted, I listened. I don't have much to add to the programmer conversation.

Nate played games. I watched stuff. It was a pretty chill day. We just watched some Breaking Bad and Adventure Time. I was up late last night finishing a sketch. Going to hit the hay early. When Nate goes to bed, I go to bed. He is getting up for some Sunday mountain biking.

I didn't run the errands that I planned to do, but they are not totally urgent...so long as I don't mind not having the time on my wrist.

Odd Owl Shirt Design

Sketch for a future shirt design for Odd Owl.

Will be hand drawn for extra detail, but I dig this version too.

lazy friday

Can't speak all that highly about today's productivity. I joined LinkedIn, which is good. Got that set up and a going. Can't hurt, ya know? No more responses concerning jobs I've applied for, and there were not any ones worth applying for on my usual sites. Boo.

Played some Skyrim.

Refreshed pages, but found no new jobs. Gah! Come on!

Tomorrows plans include sending a thank you note to the people who interviewed me, and getting a watch battery. I need to do laundry as well.

Talked to Mom and Dad briefly.

Ate pasta. Snacked. Have some drawing to do, so I think I'll work on that. Nathan's back now. Yaaay drawing.

meet & greet

I'm all caught up on dishes! Whoo! Though I broke a small plate. It slid right out of my hand and clattered into the sink and broke. Ah. Oh well.

I played a bit of Skyrim. Doing some roaming and killing of bandits and leveling up and all that fun stuff. I think I'm getting a hang of it.

I also applied for a few more jobs. Yay! My cover letters keep getting better.

At 6:30, I headed to Palo Alto for a meet and greet with Nate's company. Carmen was there as well, as a sound engineer looking to rub elbows. She talked to the CEO, which was neat. I didn't talk to him, but that is okay. I had a couple beers and chatted up Justin, Dean, Other Nate, and other people from the art department. Got advice on portfolios, websites, and those things. It was fun! I high fived Marco. Did lots of chatting.

My car is rattling more, and the check engine and warning lights came on majorly. Tomorrow I'll check all the levels and oils and things, and see if I can figure out whats up. It can't go kapoot now! I need it! For driving!

open house interview

Ahhh had my first interview today. It was an open house type thing for Theme Party Productions. They need carpenters and scene painters, and scene painting seems well varied and pretty cool to do. Yup yup. There were only a couple other artists there, Chico, Jenny, and Carla (?), so it was good that there wasn't a major amount of competition. We got a sum up of the company, and I tried to remember as many things as possible to bring up when I met with Jill, the owner, in the one on one. While waiting to talk to her, I chatted with the other applicants and looked at portfolios. I had some thoughts after leaving the interview about what I should have said, but isn't that always the case? She liked my portfolio, though I don't have the most amount of this type of work. Still, maybe I'll get a chance? That would be cool. I think I would really enjoy being a scene painter. Would be a lot of variance and stuff, and I like when things get changed up. So here is hoping! Good first experience. I need to list out different ways I can make myself be the one people want to hire. Practice practice practice!

Earlier in the day, I went to Safeway and did some food shopping, and I went to CVS to look for watch batteries. I did not find any watch batteries, but I found a squeegee for the glass shower. Hurrah!

I also amassed a list of more jobs to apply for. These ones will need massively specific cover letters and resumes, so that will be my tomorrow. Just gotta keep applying. And hoping.

Also tomorrow there is a Machine Zone open house, so that will be a good chance for networking and talking and advice getting. And maybe I'll stop by the Swatch store in Stanford and get a proper watch battery. Hmmm.

portfoliooo'd

Still no responses from potential employers. Ah. Just have to be patient. They probably got oodles of applicants, and have to sort through them to get to awesome me.

There is a job open house thing tomorrow, so today I went down to Kinkos and got a decent print out of my portfolio on nice cardstock, some copies of my resume on blue paper, and a holder thingy to put my portfolio into. Booyah! Now I have a portfolio to show people, and I can slip in new things as needed. And it flips through really easily, on account of the cardstock. Professional Trill!

The available jobs were quite lacking today. Boo.

Almost all caught up on the dishes.

Tonight put a controller in my hand and had me play Dead Space 2. I got about ten minutes in and was all "NOPE, TOO SCARY!!" The lighting and interface is super cool, but it is scary as all get out. So yeaaah.

Excited for the job open house. They'll have no choice but to talk to me. Ha ha!

But if potential employers are reading my blog right now, rest assured I am quite professional and a good worker. You'd do well to hire me.

back to the hunt

I posted about my Sunday in San Francisco. The post is right below this one. Yup yup.

Today I did two dish dryers full of dishes, but still have more to go. I don't know how Nathan used up so many plates! Free rent comes with certain responsibilities. Nate is hovering and said "We had a barbecue!". Ah. Mystery solved. Still, he could have let the dogs lick the plates as a form of pre-wash.

I looked at the jobs on Craigslist and applied to a few more. Still no responses from other jobs. Come on guys! I need to at least get to the interview stage with a few people.

I joined Twitter, though I don't think I'll tweet much. But now I can tweet at people.

Took it easy. Tomorrow, more jobs! Yeaaah!

Also Nate brought home Jack in the Box for dinner. Go Nathan! Yum yum. I didn't eat all the burger, saved some for tomorrow. I also finished up my bacon and eggs. So I should do some grocery shopping.

Sunday in San Francisco

Got up at 8am. Being around Carmen and Josh makes me want to get up early and be productive. Carmen also said I could stay with them for a bit while looking for work. Which is awesome. Hopefully I'll start getting some interviews and I won't have to take them up on their offer.

Carmen made oatmeal for breakfast and put fancy healthy things in it, and it was DELICIOUS! Thick and hearty and wonderful. Best oatmeal ever.

Their was a picnic planned at Fort Cronkhite, so Carmen made lovely little sandwiches. I made the cucumber, dill, and creme cheese ones. Because I love cucumbers. At 11, Odd Owl's drummer Adam and his lovely wife Vanessa showed up for picnic time. They were both friendly, awesome people all through the day. Actually most of the people that I met today were cool. Such a friendly community, and so full of hugs! Anyway, we all piled into Adam's car and drove North to Fort Cronkhite. While yesterday was hot, today was foggy but generally not that bad. I had my light track jacket, and that was enough.

At a picnic table, we gnoshed on sandwiches of all sorts, cookies, chips, and other good treats. We talked thesis, among other things, and I can't quite believe that it has been a year since I defended my work. A year! I've been graduated almost a year! Whaaat!?

Anyway, after stuffing ourselves, we took a nice walk along the bluffy hills. There was poison oak, but I don't think any of us got it. I certainly am not itchy today (I was wearing pants). There were lots of clusters of people, educational looking clusters.

The walk took us to some bunkers, where a couple asked us to take their photo together, which was special because the guy had just proposed! Ahhh! How sweet. Congrats to them.

From the bunkers, we went to the lighthouse on the point. I like a landscape that is immersed in fog. Something lovely about the hint of shapes of things. Sun is nice, fog is nice, different weather is just nice.

After descending from the lighthouse and bluffs, the five of us put our feet up at this little house on the hill. A nice breather. Then we drove to the Mammal Center, which was just a place to rehabilitate seals and the public was allowed to watch from a safe distance. The elephant seals were loud.

I start a fair number of paragraphs with "after", I should come up with better transitions.

The day out done, Adam and Vanessa returned us to Carmen & Josh's house, and we parted ways. The rest of the sandwiches and sushi were consumed while we watched a couple Enterprise episodes.

I drove Carmen to the open mic night that she was assisting with. We got parking right outside the venue too! No sooner was I in the door at the Fish Bowl than Eric handed me chalk and asked me to do the sign for the night. I obliged, because chalk signs are fun and Eric was enthusiastic about what I whipped out. It was a fun night, and everyone was very nice. Jesse on the ukulele was lovely, Christopher played the guitar, this guy did an acoustic cover of Jump Around. Jesse and Melody did a duet. Everyone was lovely and friendly and easy to talk to, and because I know Carmen and because people know Odd Owl, for once my reputation precedes me! It is awesome.

I dropped Carmen off, hugged her goodbye, and returned to Redwood City. No traffic late at night. Tis good. Nate and I watched the new Game of Thrones episode, and it was inteeeense. And tired from a day of hiking, which followed a day of biking and hiking, I went to bed. Nice.

I'll real blog tomorrow, okay?

Ahhh man, it is like 1am and it is time to go to bed and it was a long day. Too long to sum up right now. I'll do a proper write up tomorrow. During breakfast. Promise!

oh darn these hills!

Wheee! My San Francisco minibreak hath arrived! Whoo!

Had a wee little breakfast, toodled around on the internet (still no info about jobs), and then at 12:30 I hopped in the car, plugged Carmen & Josh's address into the GPS and off I went! And I promptly got on the freeway headed south instead of north. Durrr! But I managed to turn myself around and boom, off I went!

It was a beautiful, brilliant, sunny, warm, lovely day. Wonderful! Was wearing short pants and Dad's Cambridge tank and feeling quite happy with everything. Got all the right turns coming into the city. Traffic was dense on 19th, but not intolerable, and soon enough I was at their lovely cute house. It was squeezed right in, and it has wood shingles and it is darling. They have much art, and everything is designed and wonderful. One of the top houses I've visited, it must be said.

We had pina coladas and lounged in their little back yard area (they have a back yard! Fancy that). I applied some sunscreen, because we'd be outdoors and I think my skin is just about tan enough. Sure it can take a little more sun, but if I didn't apply it today, I would have been properly burnt for sure.

Up the hill we went to this mini park that overlooked Sunset and Inner Sunset. I drew a little bit. Down the hill we went to 9th and got some gelato. Yum. I had the creme brule flavor. So good. From there, we walked back to the house and rested a bit. Then it was biking time! Josh moved the seat on a mountain bike as far down as it would go, but it was still a smidge too high (I have short legs). But I managed. Zoom! Down the hill, down through Golden Gate Park, and down to the beach! Yaaay!

The water was cold, but the type of cold that I am used to. If I had a swim suit, I would have swum in it. But I didn't, so I didn't. I waded a bit, and that was nice. We three sat in the sand and absorbed warmth. Josh and Carmen mentioned that it was the nicest day in a long while. Is it all downhill from here, San Francisco weather wise? Hmmm.

The ride back was killer. All up hill, and me massively out of shape. Back in the day (aka a year ago) I could have done it without stopping, but I definitley ended up needing a breather after the park. Wheeew! My bike was also a bit heavier with fat tires, but that isn't the best excuse.

I drank several glasses of water upon my return. Boy howdy I did.

Dinner was sushi, which I helped roll! Salmon sushi. Eel sushi. Delicious sushi. Yum nums.

My bum hurts from the bike riding, and my thighs are pretty spent as well. Blimey!

I showed Carmen Adventure Time. I couldn't quite gauge her reaction, but she did seem to dig it a bit? I think?

We played a couple rounds of Dominion, and I came up last both rounds. Nate and I should play Dominion. I think he has his own box of it, somewhere. Get our skills up and then take them on! Yeah!

After that, we watched an episode of Enterprise, chatted, and then it was beddy bye time. Tomorrow will be more fun! Yay!