pizza is good

Ahhh sleep. I dig it. Did a grocery run. Candy Cane Joe-Joe's are at Trader Joe's!! I'm so happy. As are tons of other holiday seasonal sweets. Tasty tasty stuff. Also got fruit and pasta and pasta sauce. Those things.

Steve came down (from San Jose) for the evening, and we got pizza from Woodstock's. Mmm can't go wrong with feta, chicken, basil, and onions. Numm! I need to get a takehome menu, so I can phone in orders, instead of waiting in the restaurant for a while for the pizza.

Fairly relaxing Saturday. I have brunch plans tomorrow and then I think I'll spend the rest of Sunday drawing some portraits. That will be nice. Then back to work! Hurray!

November is going by REALLY fast. Holy cow month, SLOW DOWN! I don't even have any Christmas shopping done. Though I'll probably just make a print for people. A Christmas print. And they'll ENJOY IT! So help me they will...

November Portraits #16 & #17 - Krysten Ritter and Dreama Walker

Dreama Walker

Krysten Ritter

I like the sound of rain on the roof.

Had a relatively short day at work. Just ran a bit of a job, which required a lot of set up. I coated some screens as well. Now we have oodles of screens just waiting to be burned! Finished Killing Floor. Moved on to 14, pretty nifty book thus far.

Talked to Ma & Pa. Figuring out Thanksgiving. Need to figure out what I am going to MAKE for Thanksgiving!

I was lazy and bought Jack in the Box for a late lunch. Watched some movies. Did some portraits. Weekend! Time to do things!

It has been raining all day. It's nice to listen to.

November Portrait #15 - Amanda Russel

Amanda Russel

chevron over herringbone

Winding down by watching Cosmopolis. Well. Not sure if winding down is the right way to put it. It is very strange. Sure it is David Cronenberg....but yeah.

Finished Killing Floor. Exciting little book. Moved onto 14. Not sure if I want to listen to a bunch of Jack Reacher novels...

At work I tidied up the waterbased inks, and burn and taped a bunch of screens, and weeded some vinyl, and...errr. Did some other things too, I'm sure. Getting ready for some jobs.

I ordered a new wallet offa Etsy. A little thing, hand made in Ontario, chevron patterned with a pocket. Looks nice, I'm excited for it to arrive.

Tomorrow is Friday? Already? Blimey!

billfold

Another largely solitary day. Killing Floor is a pretty exciting little mystery, it keeps my brain going "oh whodunnit, was it this person? ooooh." Sometimes I just want to wait for the book to reveal itself, so I like it when a book gets me thinking along with the narrative.

I applied glue to the palettes, burned a screen, cleaned the press, and then was given the task of putting banner scraps on the new ink shelves (to make an easier to clean surface) and then cleaning and reorganizing said ink shelves. Now the station looks much better, and the colors are easier to get to. The tans and beiges are together, the purple and pinks are together, and both the aforementioned are not shoved behind reds and yellows and oranges. Nothing is more than two deep, so all the numbers on the things of ink are easily readable. Looks so nice. And plenty of room for new inks!

Yup. Got home pretty tired from being slightly hunched all day.

Watched my telly, ate my dinner.

Need to buy a new wallet, as I spilled gunk on my current one, which was already shabby and in need of a replacement. I've gone through two wallets since 2005! That is OUTRAGEOUS!

November Portrait #14 - Annie Heisey

Annie Heisey

tuesday night thoughts

Back to work! And it was largely clean up and stuff. It felt like I did the tasks very slow, or maybe I'm just not aware of the time things take? Broke down the press. The studio was cold, which was a bummer. It was warm outside. And I mentioned breaking down means taking down all the screens and squeegees and things right? Taking them down and out from the press. Cleaned the screens, cleaned the squeegess, weeded some vinyl, helped Andrew remove from brackets from the van, cleaned the pallets.

It sucks to get out of work at 5pm and it is already dark. Booo! 

Pasta for dinner. And I drew some portraits! Two of them! One came easily, one did not. You'll see them soon.

November Portrait #13 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Eleanor

Grandma Eleanor passed away in her sleep last night. She will be missed dearly.



I spent most of the day at home. Didn't feel like going out and drawing landscapes. I stayed in and worked on a portrait which proved very difficult. Started listened to Killing Floor, the first Jack Reacher novel. Felt in a mood for something a little less whimsical after Lost In a Good Story.

Game night was fun. Met Mary and Paula was there. We played Thurn and Taxis and Transamerica and this German bike game and Evo. Pretty full line up. Thurn and Taxis was neat. A sort of...mail route system game. Apparently tabletop games are HUGE in Germany.

It's cold again. Time to crawl into bed.

November Portrait #12 - Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy

November Portrait #11 - Sarah Portland

Sarah Portland

California chills

It's been really cold in my house. I checked the windows and found the one in the spare bedroom was open. Probably to keep the room from getting musty or whatever. But I closed it anyway. Because it is cold. And I don't have long johns.

I am drinking hot tea out of a mason jar. Specifically the kind from Cherish & Isaiah's wedding. Half way through it now. It's good. Warms my soul.

Slept way way in. It was nice to do so. My body rhythms are still set firmly to waking up at 8am. Pretty satisfied that I can get up so regularly and get to work on time. I can sleep in when I don't work, and get up when I don't. I'm an adult! WHooo!!

Drew a portrait. Watched telly. Ate food. Went and got more food so that I can eat it. Still no candy cane joe joes at Trader Joe's. Probably waiting to sell off the crummy Halloween cookies first.

Ray came over and we finished off the chili and watching The Walking Dead and Misfits.

Amanda, my housemate, is back from helping the Obama Campaign in Colorado. Well she came back a couple days ago, but this was the first night that I have actually seen her.

Now I think I shall sit in bed and read. Oh wait. I have Homeland to watch. Hmmmn.

Robin & Finn

What a lovely wonderful day! Things are really coming up quite splendidly in my life these days.

Met Steve in San Jose for a little afternoon hike. We went to the, err, Sierra Azul? open area in Los Gatos, and walked up the path a bit. There were some mountain bikers, but we were never in danger of being squashed by some maniacs. It was a bit chillier of a day, but when one hikes, one warms up. After proving how bad I actually am at going up hills, we shared a sandwich in downtown San Jose, and parted ways. I headed North some more to Oakland.

Though it was closer in to Berkley than Oakland. I found easy on the street parking and waited outside Zachary's pizza for Robin and Finn. Finn was the first to arrive. I don't think I've seen him since I was unemployed. Oh how fast things change! Robin arrived next and we decided on sushi instead of pizza. I had udon and a philly role. Robin stuck to rolls, Finn had ramen and rolls. We shared sake, and a good chat was had by all. From there we went to Tara's Ice Cream. I had the salted caramel with brownie bites. It was so damn tasty. They had tons of different flavors, and a few I had never heard of before. Good stuff. I need to find all the hip little places in Santa Cruz, so that when people visit me, I can take them to groovy places.

We went back to Finn's place, and watched Anchorman. Which was odder than I remember it being. I dunno. I think I don't like the character of Ron Burgundy that much.

It was nice to keep the company of good old friends. A bit of a drive, but ever so worth it.

November Portrait #10 - Daniel Haile

Daniel Haile

November Portrait #9 - Matthew Seely

Matthew Seely

SexySexyBicycle.Net

sushifall

Doing these portraits, some of them I can do in, like, 30 minutes. Some take me hours!

Slept in today. It was a glorious thing to do. Had a little breakfast. Toodled around the house. Drew a bit.

Met Ray at 5ish, and got tickets for Skyfall. Then we had sushi! Yum! Had some of those big combo many ingredients rolls. Pretty good! Avocado, cremecheese, shrimp. Can't go wrong. Oh, and tempura banana? Delicious! I need to get Robin's recipe for fried banana.

Skyfall was good. Less action heavy than I was expecting, but NO SHAKEY CAM! Which is great. The action was good. Clear, concise. It was a bit light on the babes. Now Craig's Bond is set up for more Bond movies, with Q and Moneypenny. I dug it.

Now it is chilly, I'm going to crawl into bed.

November Portrait #8 - Jade Sheldon-Burnsed

Jade Sheldon-Burnsed

itemized awesome

Thirteen hour shift, BUUUUT it is a four day weekend! The Boss is going to a little conference thingy.

So some awesome things happened at work today:

1. I was shown how to tape the edges on banners, so now that is another skill I have. More skills, more awesomeness!
2. Boss said that I could use the facilities at work to print, though I think I'll still work on my at home set up. Just knowing I can use the exposure unit is awesome. At home I can work on my own time and stuff, but yeah. That is awesome!
3. Boss asked if I would like to design a shirt. WHOOO!! Something with some Santa Cruz landscapes in it. I'm already having plenty of ideas, and am looking forward to sketching my new city. How great is that? 

I weeded some vinyl, and caught a job which ended up running a bit longer due to a totally unfigureoutable problem. Something was up and eventually it stopped being up. I wanted to see Skyfall tonight, but I am tired! I'll catch a matinee tomorrow, because it is THE WEEKEND FOR ME! Clear on till Tuesday!

There will be no portrait today, but two tomorrow most likely.

November Portrait #7 - BT Livermore

BT Livermore

www.bigtimeillustration.com

week coming to an end, making them weekend plans

Back to work! Unexpected days off are nice, but hey, I dig my job!

Letssss seee. What did I do? Well I unboxed the shirts and sweaters for two jobs. I burned and taped some screens. I ran one of the jobs. Loaded and unloaded the shirts perfectly! Go me. Also put some thingies on some hats, and weeded some vinyl. Talked to boss about surfing. Well I mostly listened, I can't really hold up an end of a conversation about surfing, though I do dig it. My boss is very enthusiastic when he talks, so it makes for good stories to hear.

It ended a bit early, though due to it going dark at bloomin' 5pm now, it felt later. I went to Target to pick up some lady necessities, and got caught in the commuter traffic on Highway 1. Boo! Got my things, some candy, and a new 5 pack of work shirts, and it was much faster on the way back.

I don't understand why people always seem to wait till the last minute to merge, and always try to get as far forward as possible. Ah, oh well.

At home I drew BT for today's portrait. Had a big bowl of pasta. Washed my hoodies, because they were probably in need of a wash. I cut the hems and collar out of my work shirts, makes it much more comfortable. They are all clean and pristine! Eventually my shirts will stop getting dirty, and I'll get rid of the worst ones, and then I'll look nice at work, instead of like a day old grubby person. I'd like another pair of shoes to wear at work, but then they would be new shoes, and I'd just dirty them. My 'Roos and White Chucks look awful. Hahah. Sneakers, cut offs/short pants, a white Hanes tee, and hair in a pony tail or bun. Boom, work clothes! And a company branded sweater has been added to that.

November Portrait #6 - President Barack Obama

The Prez

hunk watch 2012

Yay! Obama! It was looking close and then BAM West Coast came in and decimated the electoral votes. That was swell.

After a long and restful night sleep, I got a text from my boss saying that there would be no work due to a surf competition. He said if I wanted to see some of the world's best surfers, I should check it out. So I did! I arrived at Lighthouse Beach in time for the last heat. So I missed most of the surfing, but oh well. It was hot, and sunny, and a lovely day for surfing. I sketched in my sketchbook, and tried to be subtle about checking out some of the shirtless hunks. The final surf match was between Taj Burrow and Matt Wilkinson, both Australians.

Nice little afternoon sojurn. I rode my bike to and from the beach, which was an easy route and quite lovely because it goes along the water. So near the water, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Back at home, I ate some lunch, and wondered what to do with the rest of my day. So I ended up having a couple beers while I watched the entirety of Nathan Barley (all six 25 minute episodes) while refreshing the election results. Pretty fun night. Well fun because Obama won and it seems like some great things got passed. Once he won, I set about drawing him for today's portrait. With some critique, I fixed it, and it turned out pretty satisfactorily.

Hurray! WHeee! Yay! And I think I'll have an early night again. Feels good to get sleep.

Today was pretty good. I'm feeling really good about life these past few weeks. Things are coming to a nice settle and rhythm.

November Portrait #5 - Caroline Cronshaw

Caroline Cronshaw

Compare this to my 2/26/2011 portrait.

redbull gives you wiiiiOOOOAHAHHHHHHEHHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHE

Carmen left at 4:45am. I crawled into bed at 5am. I was prepared to text my boss and say that I would be coming in a bit later, but then my body was all "it's 8am, this is when you usually get up, so GET UP!" So I got up. Blhhhhhuherg.

Showered. Had breakfast. Got text from boss saying that it would be a solo shift and that there was a list of things to do and that he wouldn't be there till later. So I totally could have slept in! If my body would have let me.

Anyway, I got a Red Bull on the way to work, and that gave me lots of pep! Pep to clean screens, and burn screens, and tape screens, and reclaim screens, and patch screens, and clean palettes, and reclaim some more screens and patch another screen. Busy short shift. At home I did laundry, and cleaned up my room, and has some rice and seaweed snack/dinner, put away laundry, watched telly.

Now I am crashing. Mmm. Sleep. That will be nice.

November Portrait #4 - Amanda McAuley

Amanda McAuley

a day of printing, a great day, stressful but great

11pm, and two colors to go on this monster four color reductive print. But once this color is done, it's just the black layer and then BOOM DONE. We are so close, it is awesome!

So. My day started very early. I was barely out of bed and figuring out how to assemble the poster for 8.5x11 print out, because we (Carmen and I) decided to do the poster at 15x24, to maximize space, and to do that I'd need a to scale reference to draw from. If any of this doesn't make sense, well...tough! Anyway, Carmen arrived at 9. We printed out the reference. Then exposed her screen. Or tried to. She got it pre-coated but something was weird with the emulsion and it did not expose at all, so I used my emulsion remover and slathered that up, and then we started from square one. We didn't get printing till about 2. But it worked out! The yellow flat of color was tricky, but Carmen did a great job pulling it. We had the layers strewn all around the house. Hahha. After that, we got lunch, and then returned to the printing. The second layer, the reductive fluid, got stuck to the paper and so Carmen reprinted out the sheets while I coated and prepped the screen. We ran out of daylight and moved the printing table into the upstairs bathroom. We had to remove the legs to navigate it in, but it worked! The blue layer printed really fast, which was swell. With Carmen's help, the green layer got drawn on with drawing fluid lickity split (while listening to The Museum of Curiosity). While that dried in my closet (with the fan running, a very good dark drying room) we watched Sherlock. Relaxing then working relaxing then working.

Right now the green screen is drying, and Carmen is mixing the green. Soon that will be printed. And then: THE FINAL LAYER.

2:32am

The final layer is drying. Waiting to be printed. Then it will be printed. And I'll wash out the screen one last time, then that is it. I'm just going to climb into bed straight after. You'll hear from me tomorrow.

Guhhh work.

I didn't even get close to a Yahtzee...:(

Time just rolled back an hour, so instead of being 2:30am, it is 1:30am. Hurray?

Turns out the art store didn't open till 10am, so I had some time in the morning to tidy up. Went to the store, paid too much for a sub-standard screen, got mylar, and some better tape. Went home. Emulsified the screen, set it aside to dry (not with a fan, then I noticed how slow it was going so I rigged it up with a fan and it dried much faster). Screwed the bolts into the table, though I may reposition them tomorrow. Exposed the screen at different times (I also used some drawing fluid as a thickness/washout test). 15 minutes seems perfect. Washed it out. Ate some chili and a scramble.

At 4:15ish I went to Trader Joe's and got some driving snacks and a bottle of wine. Then I went up to Oakland and picked up dear sweet awesome Robin, and then drove into San Francisco for game night at Carmen & Josh's with special guest Helen & Nathan. The wine was for the shindig, and thankfully it was a good kind of wine. I just got something with a label I liked. I also gave Carmen & Josh my thank you gift of a Belgian waffle maker! They had talked about wanting one, so I went and got them one. When Carmen opened the wrapping she said "is this actually a Waffle maker, not just the box?". And so on top of Carmen's amazing sandwiches, we had waffles. Mmm!

First we played Dixit, which is a sort of imagination/image take on Apples to Apples. It was quite fun, and Nathan won. Then we played Bohnanza, a bean based game that SHOULD have been named Beananza. We got the hang of it eventually, but played a shorter round. Carmen won. Then we finished up with Yahtzee, and Nathan won that, beating my high score which was on the sheet he was playing on. We gabbed, and there were several caterpillars which had to be picked out of the sandwiches (the lettuce was very fresh). At 11:45, I drove Robin home, and then returned to Santa Cruz. So excited she is back in the area! Gotta have a day trip with her and Finn.

I prefer night driving. Less cars, just lights. It just seems easier to navigate.

November Portrait #3 - Kristin Rogers Brown

Kristin Rogers Brown

November Portrait #2 - John Finnemore

November Portrait #2 - John Finnemore

weekend, it is going to be a full one

Friday was a short day. We ran the job. I cleaned up. That was it.

I forgot to mention that I mixed my first ink color yesterday. Now I can mix ink! Hurray! Another thing to add to my skills.

I ran some errands after work. Got some bolts for the hinge clamps, so now I can bolt the clamps to my table and print. I got nice bolts, because I'll be reusing them. In the shop someone noted my company branded sweatshirt and said they used to print for them, I absentmindedly said, "oh I print for them now." And then later thought, "oh shiiiit, what if his employment ended on an unceremonious note?" AH, oh well.

I got to the art store at 6:03. It closes at 6. WHAT ART STORE CLOSES AT SIX ON A FRIDAY? And it's like the only art store in town. What is up with that shit?

I ran another SECRET errand.

Tomorrow is a packed day! I get up, go get a screen, go back home, make a text exposure with that screen, then do another exposure and print something to test my printing set up, then clean up, then go to Oakland and pick Robin up, and then go to San Francisco and have game night with Carmen, Josh, Nate, and Helen, and Robin of course. Then go home. Then SUNDAY I print some posters for Odd Owl's Seattle show.

Make sure to buy posters. Buy ALL THE POSTERS AT THE SHOW.

So exciting!

November Portrait #1 - Ben Whishaw

November Portrait #1 - Ben Whishaw

November. Time for chili!

It is November. The election is just days away. My ballot has long been sent in the post. Now I just wait, wait and hope nothing horrible happens. Like Romney getting elected. Guhhh. Last election, I was working at Gap Kids. Now I am graduated and gainfully employed in a job I like a whole bunch. A lot can change in four years. Yeah!

We ran a job at work. I burned and taped some screens. Ran part of another job. It was a shorter shift. When I got home, I went to Trader Joe's and got chili fixings. Then I plopped all the beans and salsa and secret ingredients and cooked sausages into a pot and set it to simmer, and I simmered the bajeezus out of it. And ohhh it was hot! But so good. Hot in temp, hot in spice, and it smelled damn good. It was so good to finally tuck into it, and I'm so excited to consume it throughout the week. Of course I also put on the communal whiteboard that my housemates should help themselves. Because it is a lot of chili, hhaha.

I'm going to draw a portrait a day for November. Use my tablet, improve my skills.

the fauxnies

I put on my black cat socks, and that was as Halloween-y as I got today. It just isn't my holiday.

Work was spent doing three things:

1) Heat transferring images onto safety vests, which was more time consuming than usual because the machine kept over heating and I'd have to unplug it and let it cool. Not so bad, just little delays.

2) Heat transferring images onto safety hats. Easy peasey, lemon squeezey.

3) Helping apply a vinyl wrap to the side of a thingy. Tricky. Hold of holding taught of vinyl, but not too taught.

Got home tired and a bit chilled. I finished A Casual Vacancy. VERY depressing book. I almost cried while listening to it, right at the end. It's tragic indeed. Started The Eyre Affair, which is fun and such an odd but lovely universe to listen to.

Since I've listened to so many audiobooks, thought I'd give out some faux awards:

Best All Around Book of the Bunch: Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Best Stephen King Novel: 11/22/63 (runners up: The Gunslinger & The Drawing of the Three)

Best Narrator: Jeremy Irons reading Brideshead Revisted

Worst Narrator: Jim Dale reading The Night Circus (he came off as a bit too husky and strained for voices that, to me, needed to sound more youthful)

I Have No Interest In The Main Character and Can’t Be Bothered to Finish: The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

Holy Shit That Was Dismal, Why Can No One Be Happy?: A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Best Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Book: Equal Rites (honorable mention to Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, and Pyramids)

Best Wimsey Novel: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (runner up Whose Body?)

Best “I haven’t read it in a while, I should give it a listen”: tie between Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens

Best Interesting World Builder: Jasper Fforde with The Last Dragonslayer (runner up: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde)

Best First Book In A Trilogy, Which is Unfortunately Followed By A Dissappointing Second Book : A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Best Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Best Sketch Comedy: That Mitchell and Webb Sound (runner up John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme)

Best Audio Comedy: Cabin Pressure by John Finnemore

Most Likely to Be Listened to Next: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde.

Likely to be listened to soon: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, Forever Odd by Dean Koontz, The Waste Lands by Stephen King, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayer.

Yup.

Spent the rest of the night relaxing, eating chips, chatting online, watching telly, and generally staying warm. Tomorrow is Thursday! Already! Gee.

the light at the end of my flashlight

Work was slow and spaced out. Lots of odd little things. Set up a job, but we haven't run it just yet. Put back the squeegees. Organized. Cut some stickers and things. Burned and taped some screens.

I twerked my leg a few days ago, I don't know how though. But there is a bruise on my foot. Don't remember banging it on anything. My bad knee has gone back to being my bad knee, and my hip feels funky. I don't like it. I don't exactly work a job where I can keep off my leg. Hmmn. Ah it will get better.

Met Daniel and his friend Wes for the 7:30 showing of Cloud Atlas at the Del Mar. It was lovely! I was a bit iffy towards the movie because they make a bunch of white actors look Korean, but they use the actors in just about every story (there are six different stories told during different parts of time, and each is told in tandem with one another), and they make all of them into different ethnicities. Though yellowface and blackface is still...yeah. Beyond that, it was really great. The cast was excellent. Lots of great roles, lots of great shots, good effects (aside from the makeup, which was a bit awkward). It made me feel really happy. The stories were uplifting but also sad, but also funny. It was well balanced and well paced, which is quite the feat with a two and a half hour long movie. I enjoyed it. I have the book, so...now I have to read it! To get the full shebang!

M cellphone fell out of my jacket pocket, so I had to wait for the movie to end to find it, my penlight was a bit too bright and I didn't want to distract people with my searchings.

Now I rest. Another day, more excitement awaits!

but seriously, nothing seems to get better for these characters

Yay! I got out of work early enough to go to Monday Game Night! Yaaay! Had the onion and bacon pizza. The make your own pizza thing is so customizeable, it's pretty awesome. Andy, Rob, and I played this Game of Thrones card game that was very complicated, but I got the hang of it near the end, and almost nearly won. Lots of rules that change quite often, but I managed. Nearly four hours of gaming! But it was a good time. I like getting out and playing games. Makes for my kind of social night.

Work started a bit late. Broke down the press, cleaned squeegees and screens, listened to A Casual Vacancy, which continues to be depressing. The Eyre Affair is next in my queue, and I'm excited for that. Not that I'm excited to be done with A Casual Vacancy, just that I am excited about what is coming down the audiobook pipe line. I become more literate day by day. Hurray!

Also weeded some vinyl and pressed some hats. The weather was nice. Seems like the weather is horrible everywhere but here.

There was a football game on at Woodstock's, and people in the restaurant would periodically cheer. I guess the team they were supporting was doing well. Mmmhm.

October has been a pretty good month for me. Kudos to you October!

soonday

Rocky Horror Picture Show was sold out, so Ray and I ended up staying in and watching Hot Fuzz instead. Nothing says Halloween Party Weekend like Hot Fuzz. Hahah.

Finished up my bacon with another big tasty scramble. Mmmm. Tidied up my room a little, and because game night in San Francisco was off, I went up to San Jose to hang out with Steve. There was a Mythbusters interactive exhibit at the tech museum, so we went to that. Tech museum/science museum. One of those. It was fun. I've never seen Mythbusters, but it was fun to play with some of the things they had on hand. I also found I was able to dodge a paintball fired from 100 feet. Good to know! I had protective gear on, so I didn't get hurt when when other paintballs hit me (I also had a riot shield, haha). After the exhibit, we checked out the rest of the museum and fiddled with all the music displays, and light things, and power things. Reminded me of the Pacific Science Center. Except there are far fewer kids on a Sunday night.

We got some takeaway at this little vegetarian place, and it was quite the tasty meal. I need to figure out how to incorporate garbanzo beans into more things. Garbanzo beans are great!

And this time, I actually got Steve's suggestion for the easiest way to get back to 17, and made it home in good time. Normally I get lost in San Jose (because the GPS refuses to find a satellite there). With directions, it was easy!

I start work a bit later tomorrow, so time for Sunday night television! The Walking Dead, Homeland, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Misfits...well I only have time to watch half of those. But yeah.

piece by piece, it all comes together

I have succesfully built an at home exposure unit! It's just a 500watt work light attached to some wood, designed to rest above a screen. But yeah, can't wait to test it out!

I slept in. That was nice. Had a big scramble for breakfast. Also nice. After that, I ran my errands. Went to the hardware store and got the light, some screws, a C-clamp, and a ceiling hook. Then drove on to the art store, perused their screenprinting materials, and got some drawing fluid and ink. Can't wait to get my at home printing set up done with! WHeee!

Back at home, I laboriously sawed scrap wood (from the shed) (err from inside the shed, I didn't take apart the shed) into the right sizes, and afixed them together. That took a while. Had some dinner, watched some telly. Think Ray & I are going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight at the Del Mar. That should be...an experience!

Tomorrow I have plans to meet up with Daniel for a matinee of Cloud Atlas. WHooo! Weekend!

If I own a book, I will not listen to it as an audiobook

It was a shorter day at work. Well, a shift of the usual length, just short compared to earlier in the week? Now it is the weekend! Yay! Have some plans, but no Halloween plans. Don't even have a costume. Halloween just isn't my holiday like it is for other people.

Set up the job, though the separations were a bit weird so it was tricky to line up. Weeded some vinyl. Boxed the job. All was well, and it was a nice day.

Back at zee home, I ate some chips and dips. Washed my towels. Took inventory of things. I think I'll make myself some cocoa and settle in to bed and read. I really need to finish Shadow of Night so I can FINALLY read something else. I am committed to not starting any new book till I finish one I'm in the middle of. I'm in the middle of: Shadow of Night (which improves whenever Matthew is not in the scene) and Blood Meridian (so grotesque) and How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe (the writer is trying too hard and I'm having trouble getting into it). I have: The Blind Assassin, Neuromancer, The Patrick Melrose novels, Cloud Atlas, The Gunfighter, Lucrezia Borgia, Berthe Morisot (both biographies), and Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man. Alphabet Soup came in the mail, but that is more a browsing book than a reading cover to cover book, so that has been delegated to bathroom reading, replacing my Thrilling Tales short story compilation. Basically, I have a bunch of things I want to read, but I have to get through something to get to those.

So first I must finish Shadow of Night. Never have I gone from so excited to so drudging of a book...it needed like, 200 pages less. Ah. Oh well. Writing is hard.

good ol' J.K.

Remember what I predicted I would do at work? Coat screens? Yup I did that. Reclaim screens? Did that too. Tape up screens? Yuuup. Also cleaned up the space a bit. It was a shorter shift. Started listening to A Casual Vacancy, which is J.K. Rowling's new book. Some of the character development is plopped in a bit heavy handedly, but I do like stories with lots of characters, and when your perspective of characters changes based on what you learn about them from other people. I'm enjoying it, and I look forward to listening to it some more.

I did some grocery shopping, and got some shampoo. And some gin. And pineapple juice. Makes for a nummy drink, I must say. The gin & pineapple juice, not shampoo and gin and pineapple juice. Yuck. A bunch of obviously college kids were behind me in line, and each were getting precisely one beer each. Not the big beers, just the little ones. It struck me as a bit odd. Just one? Why not pool moolah and get a case of something? Or get gin and pineapple juice and be classy like Trillian.

Regarding your question Dad, yes the tires were a bit low.

Ma, may I recommend the book The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde?

Oh wow, it is Friday tomorrow! Then the weekend, whooo!

chicken bawk bawk bawk

Forgot to mention that I filled up my tires on my way to work tomorrow. They were a bit low, and I did it at the gas station and it was easy peasy! Hurray, life skills!

Another mostly "left to my own work" day at work, though it did start with catching a job. I reclaimed 17 more screens, once that were cleaned up yesterday, and I cleaned the ink off another 15 screens. Probably tomorrow I will tape up the four screens I burned today, coat the 17 screens that were left to dry, and reclaim the other 15. Slowly but surely getting caught up. Well, not so much caught up, just getting a bunch of screens back into circulati-AHHHHH THIS AUDIOBOOK I WAS REALLY EXCITED ABOUT FINALLY COMPLETED DOWNLOADING! YAAY! AHem. Anyway. Yeah. We were short screens due to burning a ton of screens for jobs, and now we have plenty once again! Wheee! A shorter day, though I could have pushed it. Though my arms are still feeling strained, so I didn't want to tax it.

Also, Charles Burns and Chris Ware were doing a little talk at Book Shop Santa Cruz, and I didn't want to miss that! Unfortunately when I first went to the shop, I left my bike lock at home, so I went back and figured riding my bike would take just as long as driving, so I rode back to the shop and locked up. I didn't have anything for either guy to sign, so I just listened to their wonderful lecture/discussion about influences and sketched them as they did so. I figured it would be weird to have them sign my sketchbook, so I didn't shake their hands or anything. Sometimes I am shy about things. Some people had like...bags of books to be signed! I think that is a bit outlandish. Every damn book? Really?

Both their new books (X'ed out and Building) look amazing. Totally putting them on my Christmas list. Mad genius writers and artists, the both of them.

Riding back, these girls in a car shouted at me. I guess I was too much in the lane? Though I was going quite fast. They sounded like 18 year olds trying to be cool. Feh. Whatever.

Almost done with Good Omens. Have some neat things lined up in my audiobook queue. Whoo!

Tuesday, but it feels like Wednesday

Today was a very good day! The boss complimented the good work I've been doing, so that was nice to hear. I spent most of the day cleaning. Cleaning screens. Cleaning squeegees. Breaking down the press. Burned a couple things. Coated a bunch of screens. Andrew and Stuart ran the jobs, I just cleaned things up in the back. It's good when things run smoothly like that. Getting a good knack for what needs to get done.

Afterwards I treated myself to dinner at Yan Flower. Okay not the fanciest of meals, but it was warm (I had the ginger, beef, and green onions dinner) and I had a great book about words to read. Afterwards Ray came over for a visit. I showed him the print portfolio from PNCA I participated in, and I think he was impressed by the talent. Not just my talent, of course. I have awesome peers.

My arms hurt so bad from work. Well not so so so bad. Just they are feeling the strain of the constant hefting of screens, and I am doing it with two screens in one hand, four at a time, and sort of twisting and moving them about, which puts a lot of strain on certain muscle groups. It wears my arms down by the end of the day. But soon I'll get even stronger and it will all get easier!

there are many rules to this thing

Wow. I am so very tired. I got woken up early a couple times because my window was rattling in the wind. A nice sound, actually. Sort of the charm of the house I live in.

First thing at work I broke down the press, saved the necessary squeegees and floodbars, pulled out the screens, put the new screens in, set them up as best as possible, then cleaned a couple squeegees while waiting for Chris to put the final touches on the registration. Finished that job, then got to cleaning and reclaiming screens. I've revised my method, and now screens seem to clean a lot faster. I use a scraper to remove the ink after I've sprayed the ink remover solvent. This spreads the solvent, and takes off just a little bit more of the extra layer of ink. It seemed like I got through 20 screens a lot quicker than I did before with this method. Or maybe just listening to a damn good audiobook (Good Omens) makes it go faster. There were more than 20 screens to reclaim, but time is limited. I reclaimed them, and then cleaned the squeegees and floodbars from the days job. Another long shift. My shoulders and arms are quite sore. But it's a good work out!

I need to check my tire pressure and in turn probably, assuredly fill them up. I'll do that tomorrow morning. If I blog about it, I have to do it. That is the rule.

sunday funday

Ten and a half hour shift. Blimey! But it's all good, because I learned something new! Or rather I learned a better way of doing something. Brock showed me a better, cleaner, neater way to tape screens. And ohhh they do look much nicer, I must say. We had a big job to do, all though setting it up seemed to take the longest time. Once it got printing, it went pretty fast. Course we had to set up two different fronts and two different backs, and print both. Fronts and backs in one day, that is a bit much. But we did it! And it was awesome.

Taped some screens early on in the shift. But I mostly caught. It went by fast, though the K-Wave station was so repetitious. Still, they actually played Gangnam Style! A Korean song on an American pop station! How 'bout that? The Boss provided dinner for us, so that was nice.

Whenever I work a shift with Brock, I really see how much more I have to learn about screenprinting. It is exciting and intimidating, but I'm game. It's a wide world out there, and I'm only 24.

I need a(nother) nap

Went to a little get together at Ray's and by the time I got back, I just crawled into bed and went to sleep.

Friday:

Started by burning a few more screens. Andrew has been working up in the embroidery area, and now he is back in the main studio. Nice to have more company. Set up the back and did...wait no I set up the front and did an okay job. Wait yeah I did set up the back as well. It was such a rush, hard to keep it all straight!

Cleaned the squeegees. Boxed the job. I taped some screens as well. It was a full day but danged if I can remember all that went down. Working Sunday with Brock. Nice and early.

After work I put my feet up a bit and then drove on to Ray's place to hang out, play Rockband. It was a little shindig, and I met Cody, Dan, Chantall, Emily, Ally, and Devin. Dang I am good at remembering names! Everyone was really nice and friendly, which is always a bonus when you are meeting a ton of new people all at once.

Saturday:

My one day off! Slept in. Then made myself a big scramble. Yum. Then I took a nap. I think the weeks worth of working caught up to me big time. Spent the day at home, relaxing. Unclogged the toilet, that was yucky. I was going to take out the compost but the spiders were quite gnarly, so I just went NOPE and left it for another day (I pushed down the webs, but didn't want to tempt the spider's anger).

Oh, I got the card Ma & Pa! I've been getting so much mail lately, it is awesome. Mail mail, not just...things I buy online arriving in the mail.

I have to write up my to-get-done soon list, because I have a few things that need to get done in the coming weeks. Plus a few things that I needed to get done a while ago. And just things I want to do in general.

I should get a white board.

I felt a little earthquake right before midnight. Just a wee one.

1/3 of a year.

It was 8pm for what felt like forever, and all of a sudden it is 1am? Dang.

Today I worked a regular persons shift of 8 hours. Started with setting up screens to burn. Then I burned them. Part of the way through I did a palette change and cleaned the sleeve palettes. Then I resumed burning the rest of the screens. I coated the remaining screens as well. Now there are mucho screens to burn, which is good because there are several more things to burn come tomorrow.

After that I...oh I fired up the heater and set up the sleeve job and...there was something I think I did between those two though. I didn't clean squeegees or reclaim. Didn't tape screens. Hmmmn. We didn't get to printing till later on. AH oh well, it will come to me or it won't.

Caught some shirts, then did another palette change.

Listened to Clouds of Witness. Felt like some Wimsey.

Back home I did laundry. Awww yeah Thursday night. I'm working Sunday. Not sure what I'll do with my Saturday. I need to run some errands. I'm starting to get an at home screenprinting set up started, so I need to find the clamps and figure out what kinds of lights to use for exposing...among other things.

Remember Ma and Pa to bring my screens down when you visit! Also my zine library. My zine library is a plastic tub next to my bookshelves. Also that art case thingy we made is on top of it, bring that too.

My first day of work was June 13th. Been at it for four months now. Seems much longer. Maybe because it is so fast paced? Should figure out the date I moved to Santa Cruz. Yay for having a blog to keep track of these things.

screen queen

The milk chocolate covered toffee popcorn from Trader Joe's is quite tasty. Mmmm.

Another long day at work. When I got home, I sat down and had no intention of moving for a while.

I finished listening to Pyramids. I've now listened to so many Discworld books that I've lost touch with what is actually reality. They are good but tend to repeat a bit...time to move on to Snow Crash or Good Omens.

Cleaned all the squeegees and floodbars at the start. Then I coated some screens. Then I reclaimed a big stack of screens with the new and not busted pressure washer. The ones that were prepped for discharge ink and had been sitting for a whole took a looooot of pressure washing. But I got it done! And then I cleaned and burned some screens. And reclaimed a few more. And ended the day with one more final coating of screens. Used up all the emulsion and mixed up some more. I think there are about 30 more screens that will be burned, and all of those will need to be taped, though Stuart has been taping. A lot of jobs to be done! Hurray!

Nice to be pulling some long hours. Tiring, but nice.

soft skin but not in a good way

Work is wrecking my hands. Well, the skin on my hands. My digits have spent too much time in water, what with washing out screens and cleaning screens, and reclaiming screens. Too much prune fingers. My cuticles are a wreck. I don't want to wear gloves ALL the time.

Today was a busy day. Burned a stack of screens. Coated the screens from last night. Stuart brought his electric, but less powerful, pressure washer so I reclaimed some more screens which will be coatable tomorrow. Taped some screens. All this stuff takes a lot of time. I need to time myself, so I can give good estimates as to how long certain tasks take.

Finally went grocery shopping after work. Just got my staples. I need to make another enchilada casserole, so that I don't have to put a lot of effort into lunch making for a while. I think I've just become not sick of eating it from the last time I made it. HMmm.

Back at home, I put my feet up and had some pasta. Yum nums.

what a Monday

Uhhhgggg. God. Had one of those days at work. So I'm having a beer now. And will probably have a beer later. So I am blogging now.

The first chunk of my shift was spent weeding vinyl stickers. That was all right. I listened to John Finnemore's Souvenir Program and Pyramids. It is tedious work but at least I stay dry while doing it. Then came a couple screens to burn. That was all right. Have a rapid succession of big jobs coming in, so it should be a busy couple weeks, so that is good.

Then came the end of my shift. And it was time to reclaim (after spending the time cleaning the ink off the screens and prepping them). I made the mistake of getting all the screens nice and wet and goopy with ER-45 before really kicking the pressure washer into gear. It was on for all of 10 seconds before a hole burst in the hose. Heat had burned a hole in it, and there was no plugging it. Tape? Nope. Bike repair kit patch? Nope. We (bossman Chris & I) ended up wrapping a piece of aluminum in the patch and taping THAT to the hose and that, well it didn't repair it but it stopped it enough to keep it from showering the both of us. Though by that point, both of us were well and truly soaked. Oh and did I mention that the sun had gone down and we had the illumination from spot lights to go from? Because that was also happening. It was one of those stressful times that goes right past anger to hilarity. I'm quite pleased at how I was able to keep my head instead of crumbling in frustration. We ziptied the handle on the pressure washer (my idea), so that it was never accidentally released, which would put pressure into the hose and thus put more pressure on the patched leak. We managed to tandem reclaim the stack of screens in record awesome time.

I mean seriously. Dang. What a shift! I love my job because it is always changing. Better or for worse. Hahha.

So I returned home, popped open a bottle of beer, and jumped into some clean clothes. Now I am going to relax, watch some TV, and forget my worries. Tomorrow is another busy awesome day.

And I love it.

Shit, still need to buy groceries....ahhh I'll do that tomorrow.

is October halfway over already?

What a lovely Sunday! I slept in, which was nice. My body needed it, what with the wedding and the previous week of fighting illness. It was good to sleep in like that. I'll be going to sleep shortly.

I helped clean the house a bit, as Janet was having a big birthday shindig thing for her friend. Lots of people. I cleaned the floors and made sure all my dishes were out of the sink. They came over at 4ish, though I was upstairs being antisocial. Though I wanted to socialize, but I gave the company some space...and then some more space and then I had been up in my room for an hour and a half and by then I was like "ahhh jeeze, probably too late now." But I had plans to meet Ray for Looper and some after movie drinks, so that got me out of the house. Still, I met a couple of the guests and they were quite nice. Though some of the guest's kids gave me odd looks.

Looper was just as enjoyable the second time around. Such a great movie. I saw it at the Regal 2, which was tucked into a complex I've yet to explore, but is right next to Trader Joe's. There are lots of areas in this city I need to explore. We had drinks at The Poet. At the first dinner we had, it was someone's birthday, and yet again another familiar happy birthday song was rung out. Fun how that goes. There was a pub quiz going on and the questions were quite tricky. The teams were already established by the time we arrived, so we just listened in.

It was a nice night. The weather last week was gray and Pacific Northwesty, but it went back to calm California.

Had a very nice Sunday night. Now I shall climb into bed. Another awesome week starts! I need to make a to do list.

Yay for Jenn & Steve!

Jenn & Steve. October 13th, 2012. Yaaay!

Did not enjoy getting up early, but did it I did! And I found my camera, hurray! Put on my fancy dress, did my makeup and my hair, though my hair didn't quite work out in the long run. Ah, oh well. I still looked nice. Though it isn't about me, it is about Jenn and Steve! But here is a picture of me anyway:

Lookit those roots! My natural hair color sure is coming in quite obvious. Got some wine for the shindig and then up I drove to Woodland. I took no wrong exits, paid one toll, and got caught in no traffic. So despite leaving a bit later than I'd have liked to, I still arrived with plenty of time to spare. The wedding was at this little house, and the shindig itself was all outside. Lawn set up, lawn ceremony. It was a potluck food thing, and it all came together quite nicely. I made acquaintances with Benjamin & Amy and Gillian (who made Jenn's dress) & Henry. We played bocce and bean bag toss and croquet. That was fun (they had it set up). Ate lots of food. Had a couple glasses of wine. Celebrated my friends and their love. All that good stuff.

My leg hurts from all the driving, but I got back all right. Ah what a day! It was beautiful too. Warm and sunny. Not a Washington October, that is for sure!

And my calendar is now pretty open in terms of engagements and things to do. Hmmm. Oh, have a bunch of drawing to do. Yeah. Personal projects.

good and dark and acted oh so well, just how I like it

Noooo! I can't find my camera! I last had it in Kings Canyon, but I never used it. Did I leave it on the desk top? No, I'm pretty sure I double checked for everything. I barely used it, and I think it remained in my bag. I must have just set it somewhere I can't recall. I'll look for it come morning. My dress is laid out, got my tights. The weather is supposed to be warm, so maybe I'll bring the tights but not wear them unless it gets cold? It is a just under 3 hour drive to Jenn & Steve's wedding tomorrow. It is at 1, and I'll leave at 9:30. That seems good? I won't be going through San Francisco, just through San Jose. I have Pyramids to listen to (the next Discworld book) so that is something.

Today I set up the job right when I got in, ran it, set up the next one, ran that. Sure the boss looked and okayed my work, but all was well. Ran the shirts on another job as well. Getting a really fast loading time. Booyah! And weeded some tricky vinyl. And did some cleaning. Got out at 5, so a little bit earlier.

Steve and I had the standard dinner and a movie plans. Sort of my go to thing. We met at Santa Cruz diner and each had half of what we ordered and half the other. Bacon, avocado, and Jack omelette (aka the California) and banana walnut waffle. Sounds like a good dinner to me. The movie was Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths and it was different from the trailer, but in a good way. Funny, dark, and the actors were great. Sam Rockwell is very underrated, and was quality in this role.

Got an early start tomorrow. Should be lovely. Hope I can find my camera. If not...oh well! I'm sure I'll show up in other people's photos.

'illian('s)

It was rainy again! Santa Cruz has become the Pacific Northwest! Noooo! It was so warm last week. Ah, oh well. Just have to wear a sweater. Though it clicked at work why I get more ink on me. I'm shorter/smaller than my coworker and boss, and so to navigate the equipment I have to get closer to it and reach around and all that fun stuff. I get closer to it all, and thus get more ink on me. I just don't have the reach. Could improve my dexterity though.

Put emulsion on some screens, some of which I patched before. Burned a couple screens. Broke down the press. Stuart taped screens. Ran a couple jobs. Two color, pretty easy. Gave the bossman some apple juice, which he liked. Everyone likes Seabeck Apple Juice. I should design a label for it.

Back at home, I was quite happy to put on some warmer clothes. Then I went to Lillian's to meet Ray, another of those online acquired fellows. Lillian's is an Italian restaurant and it was pretty good. I had the risotto. The chicken was a bit dry. Ray, he is a business major at UCSC, and was pretty nice. After dinner and dessert we walked down and back on Seabright, because it ended up being a clear night.

My fingernails and nailbeds look horrible. Ink encrusted and chemical affected.

Man. Almost 1? How did that happen!

take that body, you ain't getting sick on my watch!

Feeling better today, though I was still congested and snuffly. Though considerably less so from yesterday. It was actually rainy and gray today! Damp and cold! It was nice to hear the drops on the roof.

At work I burned some screens, but did not tape them. We ran the front and backs of one job, sorted some shirts, I reclaimed the screens that were waiting to be reclaimed. I suspect first thing tomorrow I shall apply emulsion to them. A nice long shift. It was gray but not raining when I was reclaiming (I do this task outside). At least I have the company sweatshirt to wear now. Sort of wish I had work pants, but my legs don't really get that cold.

Back at home I bundled up, ate some pasta (I eat almost the same thing day in day out, it's easy to not get bored of ones food if you don't pay attention to eating it), watched Sons of Anarchy, which was hilarious, and Sakamichi no Apollon, which was okay. Not as good as Cowboy Bebop.

Got some busyness happening these next couple days. I'll keep you posted. Because, well, what else am I gunna do?

illness? oh no you won't get me!

My nose was runny all damn day. Didn't really feel ill, so there is that. But something could be just around the corner...going to go to bed early. Give my body plenty of time to rest up and recover from whatever it is that it thinks it has. I haven't been properly sick in five years, and I'm not going to let my body break that record!

I got a work branded hoodie. Boss said I was welcome to more apparel if I wanted it. Booyah! Though I'm fine with a few shirts and a hoodie...for now.

Spent a good chunk of the work shift mixing ink by eye. That was....difficult and frustrating. But we got it in the end! And printed some sleeves. And cleaned some surfaces.

Got home late. Had some pasta. Bundled up and got all warm.

not A not B then C or I don't understand this game at all

Uhg, I'm really congested and I don't know why. Blergh.

Worked a pretty easy shift, and started near Noon. Not a bad way to have a Monday. Burned some screens, taped those screens, and cleaned some squeegees and screens. Listened to Spoon and Wyrd Sisters.

Back at home, I put on not work clothes and went to game night at Woodstock's. Yay for pizza and beer! A winning combination. Played Saboteur and then Pandemic (which was great) and Ergo (which was impossible to understand). Three and a half hours of game play just about! Afterwards I did a grocery run and returned home and put my feet up.

Don't have any obligations till the 13th. Pretty good.

Still don't understand the congestion.

telly and tumblr

Ahhh a day spent doing nothing of consequence. How lovely. Got up around 10. Had breakfast. Got caught up on the Internet. Well, spent all day doing that. And caught up on television. Had the house to myself so it was all quite quiet. Neglected to go grocery shopping. I'll do that tomorrow.

Elementary, CBS's modern take on the Sherlock Holmes stories with Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, is quite cute. Lots of chemistry between the two of them. I dig it. Watched Downton Abbey. I'd rather watch it with Mom, but that will have to wait a month and a half. I suspect time will pass all too quickly.

October is already a week over and it feels like it just started. Blimey.

Work tomorrow! Yay! I start somewhere between 11 and noon, so that is nice.

bears? pfft give me something new!

I just caught a case of the woozies. Too much travel, too much irregular sleep. I am back in Santa Cruz and ready for a nice lay down I reckon. Today was very much the full one.

I got up after Ma and Pa but before Nate and Helen. I had breakfast with Ma, though she had already had hers. Then we three returned to the restaurant with N & H for their breakfast. I drew some portraits in my sketchbook while they ate their breakfast. Helen is quite nice. I like her.

Ma checked out of the cabins and we went to the visitors center and watched the video again. I got the Sequoia National Park WPA inspired postcard. I collect them from the parks I visit. I should get some Ikea frames to put them in. I think some of the standard size Ikea frames fit the postcard sizes...?

Anyway. The day started with the Grant Tree. Got a refresher in how massive these trees are. They are indeed massive. And then we climbed Moro Rock again. Which was tough on my gams, but it was again a spectacular view and well worth the climb. A bit more crowded this time, what with it being Saturday and not Thursday (or whatever day we first went up the rock). Still, no where near Yosemite crowded. We had a snack afterwards. Then we went wandering along the paths around Crescent Meadows. There were many unmarked Y's and several viewpoints that went without a plaque, so we took no notice of them. We saw many burned trees to Ma's chagrin. Nate took many excellent photos. He is better with the camera than I am. I can admit that. When we made it back to the car after our meandering U journey, we drove on to Sherman. The biggest tree in the world! It was much the same as the first time we saw it. Got some better photos though. Then we headed out to Lodgepole. I got another stamp for my notebook and we had our daily ice cream break. And some bears wandered by. More bears! Wow!

We finished the day with a partial trek up to Buena Vista Point. It was another beautiful view of both sides of the ridge, and a great photo opportunity. Tomorrow I'll upload some photos for y'all to enjoy. Right now I'm tired.

Nate and Helen brought me back to Santa Cruz. We stopped and got In N Out in Fresno. Mmm burgers. Love burgers. We listened to music and a bit of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. Got back at 11, which isn't that bad of a time. Everything seems all right in the house. Now time to tuck into bed. I have a lot of relaxing and catching up to do tomorrow.

What a wonderful vacation.

October Fifth

Today was the least busy day thus far. I had a French Toast breakfast. After breakfast we went to Lake Hume, which is in the National Forest but not the National Park. The only thing that really separated it from being part of the park was that the path contained  a lot more litter and there was more private houses around. We took the several mile hike around the lake, which was nice. Partially dirt, partially paved. We had our obligatory ice cream break at this Christian Camp that was on the lake. Yum yum.

Back in the car, we drove down some of the other roads but came to private property, so we went back to the cabin for a respite. Ma and I showered and watched Downton Abbey. Dad napped. We took another hike up to Panoramic Point, and continued on the Fire Ridge trail. There were a couple deer on the side of the road. Back at the cabin we had a light dinner of rice cakes and crème cheese and wine and other assorted edibles. We watched Horatio Hornblower while waiting for Nathan and Helen to arrive.

The pair arrived at about 10:30 and all was well. Now for a day filled with adventure! And driving back to Santa Cruz

bears and badges

Typical Thursday. Climbed a rock. Saw some bears. Got sworn in as a ranger. Ate some candy. Whateverrr.

The showers here are nothing great. Most certainly not hot enough. At a bit after 10 we headed into the park to have some fun. I found a National Park shirt that I liked. I’m going to cut the collar out of it and turn it into a tank top, because I like the back design more than the front. Reverse it. We started out with the General Sherman Tree walk. Now that is a big tree. Thick and tall. Not the tallest, but certainly the biggest in terms of mass. It was a nice walk down and around. From there we went to the Giant Forest Museum, and got a Junior Ranger Packet to fill out. I completed the 13+ section (24 years old certainly counts as 13+) as we walked along the Giant Forest Loop. Saw some good trees. Identified some more trees. Back at the Museum we listened to the Ranger talk and afterwards I turned in my packet and got sworn in as a Junior Ranger! Yaaay! I even got a badge. How cool is that?

At the 4 oclockish time we went to Moro Rock. It was 400 steps up to the top of this rock. Thankfully there were plenty of rails. It was a nice walk, though we went quite high up. A well winded walk up. There were monks in Saffron robes up at the top. It was a dynamic pretty view. Probably my favorite trek of the trip thus far.

We squeezed in a just under 2 mile walk to Tharp’s Log after that. The Log was a cabin that was built around a fallen log. Pretty neat dwelling. On the way back I heard some rustling in the woods, so I stopped Ma and Pa. And out in the woods not too far from us was a mama bear and her cub. Very cute. We sang to make her aware of us and off she went into the meadow.

An hours drive back, it is time for dinner! What a full day. I should sleep well I reckon.

waders and walkers

Mom and Dad both go up in the night and made the biggest racket opening the door and whispering to one another. Thought they were being quiet but they were not at all. We ate breakfast at the restaurant. Mom opted out, I had bacon, eggs, toast, and hash. It was pretty good. Kept me sustained for the day.

We stopped by the visitor center and I got a patch with a quail and my usual WPA postcard. I should put those in frames. Little Ikea ones.

There were some nice big sequoias, but we were not allowed to get close and hug them.

And then we drove into Kings Canyon. The national park is divided into two sections. It is a pretty nice decent. Nice and warm.

At 12:30 we stopped at Boyden Cavern and took the 1pm tour of said caverns. They were pretty nice. Shasta Caverns had greater variety, but it is just neat to be inside rocks like that.

We drove on through. We stopped at Grizzly Falls for lunch. We went to a meadow and dad took a different way back, and ended up having  to wade through the river. I got photographic evidence.

Ma and Pa took an ice cream break and I napped in the car. I was pretty tired, and I don’t know why. Back at the cabin, we finished watching Avengers (we started watching it last night). Thus far we haven’t taken any major hikes. Maybe that will change tomorrow. I also haven't sat down and done any proper drawing. Hmmm./

omelette starters

We have arrived at Kings Canyon National Monument State Park Sequoia…place. Errr Sequoia & Kinds Canyon National Parks. We have rented a three bed cabin, because Nate and Helen will be joining us on the weekend. We shall hike and have fun. Yup.

Ma and Pa arrived at my place at 10ish. We had brunch at the Santa Cruz Diner. It was DELICIOUS. I had the Capitola omelette, which has ham, cheese, and bacon. Dad had the Monterey which was avocado and mushroom. Mom had waffles and some of dad’s omelette. It was all scrumptious. After that we went to the Mystery Spot to see what the mystery was. And it was a weird place of strange gravitational pulls. There was a guided tour of the place, with lots of optical illusion demos. Quite fun! And we got bumperstickers afterwards. I don’t know what I’ll stick mine on. Hmm.

From there, we gassed up the car and off we went to the canyon place thingy! We had an ice cream stop, and a quesadilla stop, and the heat got over 100. Quite toasty, but generally nice. Some great scenery was beheld. I took a couple mini naps and was awoken when Ma and Pa bickered about directions. They made it up to me with ice cream. I’m easily won over like that.

Got to the park at a bit after 6, got our cabin. Now we shall get something to eat, and maybe enjoy some vino afterwards with some television. That is what I call camping!

work and work and grumpers

My internet wouldn't connect for a while this morning, so I didn't find out till later in the afternoon that a redraw of the face was in order. So I spent the day drawing and drawing and inking and scanning and all that jazz. It left me quite stressed and hungry and grumpy by the time I met Ma and Pa at their hotel. We are going camping! Well, cabining. We leave tomorrow, but they came into Santa Cruz tonight. We ate at Ideal Seafood, but it wasn't all that good. The clams were chewy, and the burger was just a burger. Ah, oh well. I have a bland palette, so I can eat just about anything and not grumble.

Afterwards, we walked back to my place with my bowl and jade plant (which has grown so big!) and I showed them my house, and drove them back. Now I'm relaxing. The new drawing wasn't quite improved, so it's going to be edited on the client end of things, though it will be my work that is edited around a bit, so that is fine. If I weren't camping, I could draw some more. But I am, so I shant. Ah oh well.

I'll have my computer, there should be wifi? If not...well I'll be writing up my adventures, so maybe you'll get a big post on Saturday of my times and adventures.

yay! art!

Going to rest on the sketch. I think it looks good but I am also a bit tired. Have to give it the morning gander. Be all refreshed and stuff. And daylight helps.

Slept in. That was nice. Really, really nice. Had breakfast. Watched Doctor Who. Cried during Doctor Who. Chatted with people (online). Worked on art. Snacked on snacks.

Tomorrow I shall do more art. Well. I'll finish this. And it will be awesome...hopefully. Nah. It will be.

loops and knots

Looper was a fantastic sci-fi movie. So well done. Well shot, great actors, just all around excellent. I was giddy leaving the theater with how good it is. Had dark humor in the right spots. A well realized future without going over the top with explanations. The characters were many shades of good and bad, and it wasn't just one good guy versus one bad guy. Layered. All that good stuff. Really excellent.

I met Steve for Pho before the movie, up in San Jose. There was an accident on 17, but going in the other way. I felt bad for the miles and miles of slow moving people. It just went on and on till I turned onto 280.

Work was good. Got the job set up, ran it. Boss and Andrew were off doing other things, so I cleaned squeegees and floodbars and listened to Wyrd Sisters. Pretty good day.

I'm on another wee vacation. Looking forward to some rest and some seeing of the parents and some seeing of the sequoias. That'll be nice.

need to find my focus

Got some revised sketches sent off BEFORE MIDNIGHT! Whooo!

At work made a couple flubs. Need to be more on the ball! Get my head in the game! Pay attention! Come on Trillian! The stereo at work improved today. Much better sound. And by that I mean the new one is louder. And MP3 players can plug into it (well, iPods, I don't think mine will). So that is neat. Ups and downs. Still, I wake up and go "yay work!". I don't mind getting up, I don't curse the alarm, and I don't like being idle at work. I like how there are always things to do. Even cleaning I like. I cleaned a bit. I set up a job. Ran the shirts. Ran some totes. Weeded some vinyl.

Got back lateish. Had a little diner. Worked on art. Washed my work clothes. Got a busy couple days coming up. Might have a Saturday shift.

cameo & turban

A little sketch preview of something I'm working on. Yaaay.

Going camping with the parents next week as I'll have some time off work. Yaaay! Just going to head south a bit. And when I say camping, I mean we are renting a cabin and are staying in it.

Had a dream that I was running the towel job and everything was going wrong. At least in my dream my boss was really nice about it. So that is a subconscious blessing.

Caught a few jobs at work. Set up a couple as well. Cleaned some things. Removed vinyl. Wore my hoodie because it was a bit chilly. Nooo! This is California! It is not allowed to be chilly! But generally a good day, though I was really tired. Like my brain was just....wanting to take a nap. I've been having trouble focusing this week. I don't know why.

Worked on art. And now it is late, but I want to work on it a bit more.

tootie

Ohhh I ate a bit too much cheese today. I'm giving new meaning to the name "Little Toot". Hahah.

Anywaaay. I burned a bunch more screens at work. And taped them up. And we ran a few jobs too! Nice and easy ones. Single color. No fuss. We have a couple multi color jobs waiting to be printed, just waiting on shirts. I'm learning a lot about the sequence of things in running a business like this. Don't know if I'd ever want to run a big business of my own, but it is pretty nifty to be a part of.

Went grocery shopping, because a lady needs to eat. Pasta and seaweed and more carbs. I eat pretty much the same thing constantly. But I eat a lot of apples and bananas and I drink orange juice, so that is good! Yay for eating well?

Worked on art stuffs. Still need to make more progress before I send off the next stage of things.

Ma & Pa, have y'all figured out that thing yet? You know...the thing with the stuff?

there are some plans in the works for October

Work started at noon, on account of boss running some errands. It was a burn and tape screen kind of day. As they were on 305s, it took some high intensity washing to clear the image but clear it I did. And tape up I did. 12 screens? About that. I also unpacked some shirts. A short shift, but a good one. Got some jobs coming up. Whooo!

Talked to Ma and Pa again after work. They are grinding apples to make juice. Tasty, tasty juice.

There is going to be a tenth season/series of Red Dwarf. I looked it up. That show started in February, 1988. I am barely older than that show, and we are both still going. Amazing.

I didn't get up to much tonight. Took it easy. Making a to do list. Have a lot to do...on Tuesday.

goobers

Finally got down to drawing and wow all of a sudden it it 1:20am! Got some good drawing done, could have achieved more but I didn't. Tomorrow. I have a good feeling about this sketch stage.

Today I slept in. Had a nice scramble. Watched the Emmy's. Yay for Aaron Paul winning! Can't believe that Sarah Palin thing was better than Sherlock and Luther. Cannot believe it. Such good acting and writing in both shows, and they got nothing! Still, Community didn't get any nominations. Boo.

Talked to Ma and Pa on the phone. That was nice. They adore that new kitty so much.

Yup.