Thursday, December 27, 2007

ho-hum

Things I've accomplished since my accident:

1. Finished knitting my awesome scarf.
2. Watched five movies.
3. Learned how to play Hearts (and win).
4. Slept over 12 hours in one night for the first time.


I wish I could add "churned out dozens of awesome drawings" to that list, but it figures that inspiration falls short just when I have all the time in the world to draw. This is one of the most frustrating things that I experience. It doesn't matter what I try to draw, nothing is good enough for me. I know I can do better, I know I have it in me...it's just a matter of removing the excess mind-clutter and letting the artwork out. Work stuff doesn't count. I can do that. It's just all of the ideas I have in my head for personal use that are clogged. I feel like I draw more freely with my tablet on my own computer...so hopefully once I go back to my apartment I'll be ableto do something of substance.

I AM going to the art museum tomorrow to check out the Roman art exhibit from the Louvre...so maybe that will help with inspiration.

It'll come back, one way or another. It always does. Just getting this out there for now...I won't badger it to death.






I'm so looking forward to not having to use crutches. My palms ache...

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Stardust

So I got to get out of the house today! I went along with my mom to the movie rental place and got a bunch of movies to watch. I went to Target too, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea...I was able to get one of those motorized scooter things, but the place was a madhouse, so I was basically in everyone's way. I won't go out to any retail store again until after the holidays, I think... Anyway!

I watched Stardust today. When it was in theatres, I wasn't really interested in seeing it. It looked cliche and overall kind of "meh". But I wanted a variety of movies today, so I decided to give it a chance because I was in the mood for fantasy. Wow. I might have to buy this movie. It struck the same chord in me as Enchanted did. It blended fantasy and just the right amount of reality.

The story was relatively simple, which is perfectly fine with me..because sometimes I'm just not in the mood to pick apart a complex plot. The main character, Tristan, was incredibly endearing...Charlie Cox is just adorable. There is no other way to describe him. Robert DeNiro! His character is surprising, based on what I expected from the commercials. A very pleasant surprise. Everyone is just wonderful...

I can't even say now what it was that I liked so much about the movie. I just know I smiled a lot, the story stayed with me, and I want to see it again. And I want to draw now.

That's how I know a movie was good. Haha!


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Friday, December 21, 2007

people are awesome.

It's been two days since my accident, and I've had so many people stopping by to hang out, drop off little get-well things, or sending get-well cards. I'm even getting pictures of the outside world courtesy of Jon (you really shouldn't risk your life to take them, though..haha!). So all in all, I've learned that people are awesome over the course of this week.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

storytime!

So, everybody who reads this is already aware of what happened...but I'll just put this down for the sake of the record, so when I look back on posts I'll be able to say "Oh God, I remember that!".

Short version:
I broke my leg/ankle yesterday by slipping on ice outside the apartment complex.

Long version:
I went out to my car yesterday morning and found a really thin layer of ice on the windsheild. I went ahead and got in, starting the car and turning on the windsheild wipers to see if they'd possibly get the ice of. They didn't, so I grabbed the ice scraper and got out..and accidentally shut the door. All of the doors besides the driver's door were locked, and the door handle on that door doesn't work. So my car is running and the keys and my purse are locked inside.

I ended up going to the office to get a spare set of keys to my apartment so I could call somebody to help me get into my car. The office didn't open until nine, but luckily some of the maintenence guys were hanging around in the lobby. One of them got me the keys and I headed back to my building. I ended up slipping on a big patch of ice and experiencing a pretty epic fall. I heard a crack (never good) and I landed halfway in mud (also never good).

I started to freak a little because I couldn't get up, I didn't have a cell phone to call anybody, I was in pain and it was cold, and there was literally nobody around. After about five minutes of that, it seemed like ten people showed up at the same time...Luckily somebody called 911 and a few minutes later an ambulance and a fire truck arrived. The paramedics and firemen were having difficulty gaining traction as well. All this time my car's still been running with my purse locked inside...so the firemen go to take care of that while the paramedics get me into the ambulance for the two second drive across the street to the St. Vincent ER.

After that, it was basically a lot of waiting. Waiting to get x-rays, waiting to be transferred upstairs to a room, waiting for the surgeon to come and tell us something. Luckily, no surgery was necessary...what the doctors told him earlier in the day was a lot more serious than what he saw on my x-rays. So I can't put weight on it for six weeks (no driving for me), I won't be able to walk around comfortably for about three months, and the surgeon said it'd "make noise" for about a year.

I honestly thought it wouldn't be as serious as it was at first....Then after the word "surgery" was mentioned several times and they actually admitted me to the hospital with the assumption that I would be staying there for several days, it kind of hit me. I guess I thought something requiring that much fuss would hurt a lot more. In reality, this hasn't hurt quite as much as my surgery did a year and a half ago. But the pain is going to last a lot longer, which is something I haven't decided is better or worse. Not that it matters in the long run, things will get better one way or another. This is just a temporary inconvenience. Maybe just a little less temporary than other things...haha.

Luckily I have so many people who are so awesomely supportive and helpful. I had five people visiting at once yesterday! I got two things of cookies, one from Jon (those yogurt chocolate chip ones are amazing, by the way!)...and one from Allison and the kids. Brenna helped cut them out and she chose Halloween sprinkles for them. Laura's been a huge help, bringing me stuff and hanging out despite having a crapload of stuff to do before leaving for Colorado. My dad left work and drove down from Chicago to spend a few hours hanging out with me.

All in all, despite the crappy timing of this accident, I'm really happy to have the friends and family that I do, and I still plan on having a great Christmas and New Year's!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

lookit!




I do SO enjoy my scarf in progress...!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Things.

Things That Make Me Happy:

1. Being done with finals.

2.
Free time to draw!

3.
Getting a new watch.

4. Knitting.

5. When my turn signal synchronizes with the music playing in my car PERFECTLY.

6. Sleeping in.

7. This wallpaper on my big new monitor.



Random Kristin Chenoweth Things:

"If (You hadn't but you did)"


"Glitter and Be Gay"


"Taylor the Latte Boy"



More Things to Come.

:)



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Thursday, December 13, 2007

time out!

It's the last week of this semester, so I'm in scramble mode. I'll get everything done, and everything will be fine, and I went through my "oh my God I can't handle this, I just want to give up" phase already. I've got a giant picture of Bora Bora as my desktop wallpaper, and it's a nice reminder to take a step back and take a deep breath, relax, and take things one at a time. Vacation will be there waiting for me in a few days.



Aaahhh.....backtowork!



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Sunday, December 9, 2007

:D

I got my Christmas present from my mom today. It was a brand new 22" widescreen monitor! I'm slowly but surely pimping out my computer...first the tablet a year ago, then the new speakers a few months ago...and now a nice monitor that gives me plenty of space to work my illustrative magic, as seen in the photo below:




Yeah, I'm an artistic genius. Haha...I'm looking forward to playing with this more!



:D

Thursday, December 6, 2007

weird dreams

Okay, I'm just going right in to it so I don't forget this dream I just had...

I was contacted by the wife of this pastor who's serving the church I did a website for while I was at the Synod office. I still help them maintain it, so this wasn't unusual. But what was unusual was that for some reason, I got it in my head that I had to move up to northwestern Indiana so I could live near the church and work on the site better. ]

At one fuzzy moment, I recall talking to my mom about it. She asked me when I was going and I said something like "Oh, I was thinking now."

And wouldn't you know, I had all my stuff packed in the car. About halfway through the drive it was no longer my mom and me, it was Laura, Jon, and me. On the way we'd decided it was an awesome idea to just drop everything and go live in god-knows-where, Indiana. "That's fine," I say, "they have some extra rooms in their house, so we can stay with them until we find a place." Because apparently I'd stayed at the pastor's house before, no problem.

So we get there and we go right upstairs and put our stuff down, looking through the second story of the house...There was what looked like a little girl's room that was huge...but it had a crib in the middle. And a gigantic luxury bath attached to it. There were two other rooms, but I don't remember them...Anyway!

I walked downstairs to let the couple know we'd taken over the second story of their house, and I hope they don't mind, yatta yatta. Turns out there's some sort of cocktail party going on, and I walk over to the wife and let her know what's up. She gets this look on her face, all apologetic, and tells me the upstairs is actually being used...I tell her it's fine, we'll find somewhere else, thanks anyway.

And just like that, we're out of the house and in some local diner trying to figure out what to do. While I'm apologizing, it comes up that it's my birthday (uh, duh!). I'm looking over available apartments when suddenly Jon puts a stack of presents in front of me. One of which is this gigantic Mac laptop. I forget the others...the laptop was insanely awesome and I asked him "did YOU buy this?!" And he looked all offended and said that of course he did, he wasn't going to STEAL it.

So after playing with the laptop and having some more conversation I don't remember, I look up and tell them, "You know what...I can't drive three hours to and from work every day...I need to stay with my job at Sticky Matters. Plus I'm not done with school until Spring. Maybe we should just go back."

And we did.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

sketches

Some sketches I did over the past week or so...



I got to use my new Facial Expressions book for this one...I had fun with these two.



Umm........I was sketching and the song Fergalicious came on, so I added the lyrics at the last moment.

a message from beyond...

I got a comment on my portfolio blog submitted to me in Portuguese earlier...I can't post the original text here, but I can post the translation. It amused me:

"Oi, I found its blog for google is well interesting I liked this post. It would like to speak on the CresceNet. The CresceNet is a dialed supplier of InterNet that remunerates its users for the hardwired time. Accurately this that you read, is paying you to connect. The paid supplier 20 cents for the moment of connection dialed with local linking for more than 2100 cities of Brazil. The CresceNet has a connection accelerator, that leaves its faster connection up to 10 times. Who uses broad band can also profit, is enough to register in cadastre itself in the CresceNet and when it will be to sleep to connect for dialed, it is possible to pay the ADSL alone with the money of the dialed one. In the schedules of only minute the expense with telephone is minimum and the remuneration of the generous CresceNet. If you I to want to linkar Cresce.Net(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in its blog I would be been thankful, until more and success."

So it was an advertisement, and I obviously didn't publish it to my blog....but I thought it was kind of funny.

Especially the last translated sentence.

"Until more and success"!




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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Saturday consisted of...

1) Cleaning for about three hours. (the apartment looks great!)

2) Grocery shopping and seeing Val for about five seconds.

3) Putting Christmas decorations up and baking cookies.

And that's where things went downhill.

Observe:



It started innocent enough...I wanted to make nice holiday cookies, so I started with the cute little Santa hats (since the only colors we had were pink, purple, green, and white)...But then I started making little emoticon faces and when Laura started in on them it just snowballed into WTF and Hitler. I don't know. It gave Laura and me a good 5-10 minutes of laughter. And that's all that matters in the end, right?

Thanksgiving

The basic theme of my Thanksgiving holiday was this:

Maturity isn't necessary when you're with family.

Here's a nice, normal picture of everybody before the feast:


Okay, so this was staged...but my relatives do like wine a lot.


My 5 year old cousin Brenna took this picture. Aidan looks THRILLED!


My brother's a dork. I'm so proud!


Brenna singing "Life is a Highway".


Mi madre y mi hermano. Awww...


Joel is also a playground, apparently.


My mom's totally mature. No, really!


Mmmm Santa hat...


7:00?? Leftover time!


I don't know, he looked a little freaky in this picture so I posted it..



So I don't have a whole lot else to add to what these pictures already say. It was a great day, and I'm really happy to have so much of my family so close.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

and another thing!

Because someone pointed out the lack of sketches on my blog earlier...Here's one I started a while ago of Nami and Angus (his hair isn't naturally pink, obviously). They dance and they're awesome. This picture isn't completely done, but oh well...I probably won't work on it anymore. So here you go!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

just sharing.

Some random stuff that makes me smile:

"Smile for the Camera" by bri-chan


Origami Animation.




And my latest from the Threadless collection:
Muzzak Homage



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Saturday, November 17, 2007

road rage!

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm pretty laid back and it takes a lot to get me angry. It seems the only time I get TRULY fed up is when I'm driving...which, I realize, is probably the worst place for that to happen. I confess I do get a bit of the road rage. I yell and criticize people's driving, I have honked my horn on a few occasions...but all of my rage remains within my own car.

Today was the first day I actually wanted to get out of my car and smack someone upside the head.

Here's the story:
I'm driving up Meridian in the right hand lane, cruising at my normal speed. I notice that up ahead, there's one of the dreaded IndyGo buses that nobody wants to get stuck behind. So, as I approach a traffic light with a line of cars in the left lane, the light turns green and I end up passing them. I then got into the left lane in front of this red car that had previously been leading (as if this were a race). The next light turns red, and I stop like any normal person would do. Now get this: the red car gets into the left TURN lane, and WHILE THE LIGHT IS STILL RED, gets in front of me. This girl, because I could see by then that it was some blonde chick, is hanging out in the middle of the intersection just so she could get in front of me. Needless to say, when the light turned green, she cut in front of me and drove off. I honked my horn for about five seconds. Oh, and here's the fun part...not ONE block past that light, she puts on her left turn signal, sits there--blocking me and the rest of the traffic behind me--and waits for oncoming traffic to stop before turning into some empty parking lot. Apparently she couldn't wait one car length to get to there. Apparently four seconds was WAY too long for someone of her obvious importance to waste obeying traffic laws.

People who think they own the road really get to me.

Arg!



Okay, I'm better.



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Thursday, November 15, 2007

jim jimmy jim jim

Jim Halpert from The Office is adorable in a mischievous kind of way. The character is written so well, I honestly believe there could be a Jim out there somewhere (in fact, a friend of mine claims to know a guy who acts exactly like that). I sort of feel bad for John Krasinski, who plays Jim...It's hard to tell where John ends and where Jim begins. Do I fancy John, or just the character of Jim? How alike are they? It's hard to believe someone who can pull off that character so well isn't pulling from their own personality. I mean, just look at these faces:



I think what I like about the character is he's so approachable. He's the kind of guy I could see myself joking around with. I would love to be Pam to someone else's Jim. That relationship is the most adorable thing ever. Come on, now!

Who could say no to this face????

hahaha...I'm such a dork.


:P


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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

uuuuuhhhhhhhh.....

Thanksgiving is next week...There are only about four weeks left of school...It's almost 2008...and I graduate in May.

Wow.

Monday, November 12, 2007

ick!

That's what today's weather was like. Ick! Cloudy, rainy, gloomy, and sinus-headache-inducing. That didn't make our 5 hour meeting today very pleasant for me. At least it was a productive meeting. Jon was kind enough to meet me for a quick lunch before I had to run back to work. Friends always make days like this better. I ended up hanging out with Colin and Laura at their coworker(and my new client)'s house to watch Dancing With the Stars.

I'm going to see the tour when it comes to Indy in January. I guess it's a bit of a birthday present. I'll be going with my mom and cousin, which will make it more fun.

Aaaaand that's all I have for now.



-

Friday, November 9, 2007

the cycle continues

See, I told you it'd pass by today. In the grand tradition of an up for every down in my life, today turned out to be infinitely better than yesterday. First off, I was complimented on how I looked today. Then two of my best friends called and we met for lunch, I was very productive at work, and Laura and I went to Borders and I found three of the most awesome design reference books. Not a bad turnaround, I'd say.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

another rant (sorry)

You know, sometimes it irritates me how the smallest, stupidest thing can just throw you off and ruin your day. For me, that small, stupid thing was having "How much for the pudding, fatty?!" yelled at me by some assholes in a truck when I was on campus.

A big part of me is saying that those guys were just being extremely immature and whatever they said doesn't matter because, in the grand scheme of things, people who do things like that aren't likely to amount to anything.

But there's still this small part of me that's stung, and irritated at myself for letting something so stupid get to me. Who would make the effort to stick their head out of a moving car in downtown Indianapolis to yell something like that at somebody who was minding their own business? And of course it had to happen right before I left. So I had this whole car ride to Zionsville to dwell on it. I haven't been made fun of, to my face, since middle school. I'm 21 years old. These kinds of things aren't supposed to happen in college (which reinforces my opinion that those guys are immature assholes). I know I'm overweight, people.

Then this whole stung/insulted train of thought started to veer off into "why haven't I had a boyfriend yet" territory and that's where my day went downhill (not to mention I was on my way to a dentist appointment, which never helps brighten anybody's day). I am literally the only person that I know who has never had a boyfriend. I have never had any guy tell me they like me. Nobody's shown an interest. And I know it feels like I'm exaggerating, lamenting, generally feeling sorry for myself, but it's absolutely true.

I'd like to believe the reason for this is because they're intimidated by me. Because a young woman who knows
who she is, what she wants, where she is, and for the most part where she's going, can be intimidating to men. I would absolutely love to believe that. But the thing is, appearance matters to guys my age. Hell, it matters to everybody. And I'm not, by society's definition, beautiful.

I know I've got the potential to be beautiful. I know I've got the kind of laid-back personality guys would love in a girlfriend. I know I've got the talent and the drive to go far and be happy. I know I'm a good person. Which makes this whole situation all the more frustrating.

I shouldn't be hung up on something yelled out of a passing truck by some idiot. I shouldn't be feeling sorry for myself. This irritation will pass by tomorrow, I know.

But for now I turn to Alanis Morissette for a quick emo moment:

I can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful
So unloved for someone so fine
I can feel so boring for someone so interesting
So ignorant for someone of sound mind



On a brighter note: the dentist was happy with the lack of stain on my teeth this time.

That's worth celebrating, yeah?




-

Monday, November 5, 2007

semi-feminist rant ahead.

Now, I love my job for the most part...but there are these little moments that I can't help but be bugged by. The main staff consists of seven guys and three girls. Not a big deal, since that's pretty much the ratio I got used to in school...but there are times when it's obvious the guys consider themselves more important. And the impression I get is that it isn't always intentional, but I'm becoming more and more aware of how much information is passed between all of the guys in the office but somehow it fails to reach either Kelly or me.

That puts us at a disadvantage when we go to meetings like the one we had this morning to discuss the games that we have coming up and share ideas. I hadn't even heard of half the games we discussed and ended up just sitting there and listening through most of it. This one game that I did know about was a flower-themed game. I spent some time coming up with sketches and ideas for games that could be pitched to florists (because I was ASKED to). I came up with something similar to one on orisinal.com...it was an e-card sort of thing where you could create your own bouquets of flowers and send them, along with a personalized message, to a friend. Simple, sweet, and--yes---feminine. It's the sort of thing I've done in the past and would do again, along with other women I know who would just like to brighten up somebody's day. I was actually looking forward to doing it.

Come to find out today, the guys at the meeting on Wednesday (that I missed because I was sick) all agreed that they "didn't get it" and pretty much brushed it aside. The boss even went so far as to try and turn it into some sort of dating game, where you try getting a girl to date you by giving her flowers. Or something like that. And on top of that? They gave that game, along with about 8-10 others, to the other illustrator to draw up some concept sketches for the meeting today. Of all of the games James had to do, he neglected to even TRY tackling the flower one, saying something along the lines of "Yeah, I didn't even know what to do with that one".

Through my conversations with Kelly over the past few weeks, I've started taking a closer look at the dynamics of this office. It's true that the women are left out on a lot of information. It's true that our opinion, even if offered, is rarely heard. And it's starting to irritate me a little.

I showed two of the guys the Orisinal site a while ago because of all of the interesting games they had on there. Granted, the look is very soft and almost ethereal...these aren't COMPETE COMPETE COMPETE games...these are relaxing, enjoyable games. You know the only comment I really got from Jim was? "Well, you can tell it was done by a girl, that's all I'm saying." Like it was a bad thing? What the hell? That's the sort of comment that's making me wonder if, possibly, I'm not getting the more prominent games to illustrate because they're afraid I'll make the graphics look too "girly". And the fact that I have that small anxiety in the back of my head is irritating to me as well.

These guys need to pull their heads out of their asses and realize they have three more coworkers that are just as able to provide valuable feedback and produce quality work.




(oh, not to mention the fact that these guys are the same ones that ditched me in the office about a month ago without even considering inviting me along)

the grass is greener...

I was thinking several days ago that the colors this fall seem to be a little lackluster compared to past years. Which kind of made me sad, because this is my favorite time of year. I love the wind, the colors, and finally being able to wear long jeans and jackets and not burn up. But the lack of vibrant color was kind of disappointing me.


Lo and behold, on my way into Zionsville yesterday, the trees lining Ford Road are practically BURSTING with bright oranges and reds and yellows. Gorgeous!! Those colors against the blue sky? Perfect!


That just reinforces my theory that Zionsville is in its own little bubble. I swear, anytime there's bad weather coming straight for the area--there can be a long line of red on the radar--and somehow it'll miss Zionsville. And one time, when I still lived in Zionsville, I was driving to work and there was a fog warning. It was hardly foggy, though, until I got outside of the city limits. Then it was like a wall of fog. Weird, that's all I'm saying.

Next update will be on the Colts game (which I went to :D)!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

portrait and 21 things


self portrait




"21 Things I Want In A Lover"

Do you derive joy when someone else succeeds?
Do you not play dirty when engaged in competition?
Do you have a big intellectual capacity but know
That it alone does not equate wisdom?
Do you see everything as an illusion?
But enjoy it even though you are not of it?
Are you both masculine and feminine? politically aware?
And don't believe in capital punishment?

These are 21 things that I want in a lover.
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer.

Do you derive joy from diving in and seeing that
Loving someone can actually feel like freedom? are you funny?
la self-deprecating? like adventure? and have many formed opinions?

These are 21 things that I want in a lover.
Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer.
I figure I can describe it since I have a choice in the matter.
These are 21 things I choose to choose in a lover.

I'm in no hurry I could wait forever.
I'm in no rush cuz I like being solo.
There are no worries and certainly no pressure in the meantime
I'll live like there's no tomorrow.

Are you uninhibited in bed? more than three times a week?
Up for being experimental? are you athletic?
Are you thriving in a job that helps your brother? are you not addicted?
...curious and communicative...

-Alanis Morissette




Yeah, that about wraps it up...

Friday, November 2, 2007

Tessa


Here's Tessa Morin. She's awesome and she knows it. This is her backstory (if you care) :

Tessa is the daughter of Rousseau and Douglass Morin. Now, Douglass happens to be the Queen of Aden--a title that was restored to her right after the country declared sovereignty from Cruos and shortly before her marriage to Rous. Once Tessa's older brother, Oliver, passed up the opportunity to inherit the crown, she became next in line for the throne. So she's a princess, in nearly every sense of the word. She's used to getting her way either through skillful persuasion or outright force. But her father, being a stickler for discipline, never allowed her to become a complete spoiled brat. Like all four of his children, Tessa has had a healthy dose of respect instilled in her from a young age. So while she can prove difficult, unquestionably stubborn, and driven almost to a fault, she possesses a determination and intensity that will come in handy once she takes the throne and picks up where her mother left off in re-building their country. But in the time before she starts changing the world, she's just enjoying being a young woman.


And there you have it.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

bleagh.

I've been sick for the past three days. It hasn't been pleasant, and I haven't been productive. This only happens about twice a year...Far enough apart that I forget what it feels like to be sick. I remember now, and I'm tired of it.

I just hope I get better before Sunday...because I'm going to the Colts vs. Patriots game and it would be SO much more enjoyable if my nose wasn't running 150 mph and I wasn't coughing up a lung.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

(in shock)

I am a HUGE fan of Dancing With the Stars. And this season has been the most dynamic and fun to watch yet. So many talented people, dramatic moments, great entertainment...

But tonight's results show just left me staring at the television thinking "What the f**k?!"

Sabrina Bryan, by far the most consistently talented and entertaining dancers on the show, was sent home. She did not deserve to go home, not when we're left with somebody like:

Jane Seymour--who is extremely graceful and elegant, but doesn't give the sort of varied performance that Sabrina did.

and Jenny Garth--who's honestly failed to really capture my interest, partially due to the fact that she has a mini breakdown every week.



This is me right now (ugly gray jacket and everything!):


The new office.

Okay, finally! I just wanted to share some images of my desk and parts of the new office building. I don't have anything interesting on my desk besides a computer and my tablet..oh! and a desk lamp. But I plan to remedy that soon..

My desk...



The atrium...It's pretty epic.


More epic atrium.


The second floor entrance from the elevator.



And that's all I have for now.

Not bad, eh? I like it.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

first sketch!

At least the first one posted here...This is Mari, one of the many characters that inhabit the world that Laura and I have created. She's from Naida, a country consisting of hundreds of islands, and was adopted by Harry and Kyan. She possesses a gift that's exclusive to some native Naidans: divination and psychic powers. Relatively quiet, polite, and easy-going.



More characters and environment details to come, sometime...

Saturday, October 27, 2007

OK Go!! Oh-oh-oh!

Last night was awesome. OK Go rocked. Just look:



And here too! (they're singing a jingle for a karate school the lead singer saw when he was young)



And even after the concert ended, the awesomeness didn't. Laura, Jon, Kelly and I went to the Claddagh pub for drinks. We basically spent the entire hour or so laughing and drinking and generally just having a great time. It was the perfect way to end a day like that.

I've been seriously lacking in my "activities that twenty-somethings are supposed to do" quota. I hardly ever do things like going to concerts and going out for drinks. So it was a nice change, even if my throat still hurts from yelling at the concert and laughing at the pub.

Here's to good music, good times and good company! Huzzah!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Crash the Party!



You're not the prettiest girl in town
I'm not the only boy with sullied clothes and a sullen frown, so
To hell with Valentine's, to hell with perfume
To hell with chocolates and picnics
And Sinatra tunes
Cuz while the rest of the girls are drowning in roses and songs he composes
And while the rest of the guys are all trying
All trying so hard

Oh girl, let's crash the party
El Dorado on the lawn (hey, hey, hey)
Let's burn holes in the carpets
Kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables all night long

I'm not so good with subtlety
You wouldn't say that I'm the picture of urbanity
Never put much stock in suavity, courtesy, chivalry, gallantry
All that useless jewelry
But while the rest of the girls still sigh for the night he was smiling politely
And while the rest of the guys are all trying
All trying so hard


Oh girl, let's crash the party
El Dorado on the lawn (hey, hey, hey)
Let's burn holes in the carpets
Kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables all night long
(Oh girl, let's crash the party)
All night
(Let's burn holes in the carpet)
All night long



--------------------------------------------------------
(I'm looking forward to the concert tonight. Can you tell?)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Name Game!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Sadie Camry

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),
Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
L Smi

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Blue Cat

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),
Kathleen Indianapolis

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first),
Smila

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
Turquoise Margarita

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Jerome Gerald

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Happy Heart Reeses

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ),
Gene Dickinson


And a few more…

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Lemon Lancaster


12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Autumn Orchid


13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y")
Mango Shirtie


14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Donut Willow

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour"),

The Drawing Fall Wind Tour

Pushing Daisies



Pushing Daisies is one of my favorite shows.


And I'll tell you why.


It isn't just the awesome cinematography or pretty colors or shot compositions. And it isn't just the quirky storyline or endearing, off-beat characters or even the heartwarming narration. It's the fact that this show combines ALL of these elements into a story that makes you want to climb into your television set and visit the world in there. You know, a place where a little bit of magic actually exists...


I actually do believe magic exists here. Granted, it's not as obvious as people touching corpses and bringing them back to life...Nobody's flying around, nobody turns invisible, nobody can make things float with their mind (at least not to my knowledge)...But there are a lot of little things you notice if you look. Enough to keep me from becoming completely jaded (thank God).


For example, all those little coincidences that kinda make you laugh. Like when I was given the job to create graphics for a donut game? There's a Dunkin' Donuts being built right down the street. Two work days in a row, during my lunch hour, donuts were featured in two seperate tv shows. Okay, it doesn't seem like much...but after months of not giving donuts a second thought, here I was being bombarded with images and stories about them.


All right, how about those moments when you're listening to your iTunes, the radio, even a CD on random...And you think "I'd really like to hear (insert song here)"..and it comes on? There was a day when I walked into a restaurant for lunch and RIGHT as I walked in, the song "100 Years" by Five For Fighting came on. Not saying that's my theme song or anything, but the piano intro is so pretty...and for some reason, just fit the mood I was in that day.


Hitting nearly every green light down Meridian is enough to make me believe in magic...It has happened a few times.


Sunsets! Last night, the sky was CRAZY when I went to get dinner with Laura. The clouds looked like rows of cottonballs, sort of...And they were all reds and oranges and that really interesting orange-pink color. I swear, if you would take a picture of that sky, it'd almost not look real. Wish I'd thought to grab my digital camera...as it was, I settled for the camera on my phone.


Okay, maybe this partial list of things seems kind of stupid now...


But I still believe in magic, damn it!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

mmmMaksim



I don't like dancing myself, but he makes me actually want to learn.

That's all.

Monday, October 15, 2007

advice from a bumper sticker

The other day, I was driving somewhere and found myself behind a car with a bumper sticker that read:


Quit your job.
Buy a ticket.
Get a tan.
Fall in love.
Never return.


Now, ignoring the fact that this bumper sticker belonged to a vehicle with a Tennessee license plate that was in Indiana, I couldn't help smiling a little when I read it.

I wouldn't mind getting a tan someday...and I'm definitely looking forward to falling in love.

Someday!

Saturday, October 13, 2007

oooOOOOOoooo....

For my 3D Animation class, I decided to model a grandfather clock. I figured it would be something complex enough to look good to the teacher, but (hopefully) straightforward enough for me to model with my (very) limited skills in Maya. So my mom and I took a trip to downtown Zionsville to visit the Village Clock Shop, which is full of clocks of all sizes, all set to different times, all chiming and ringing at random intervals. All in all, a pretty cool place. I found a grandfather clock toward the back of the store that I really liked. Very simple compared to a lot of the other models, with a slightly modern touch...but still extremely classy and elegant. I took about 50 pictures of it (no joke), and then we went about the rest of our day.

The next day, I was just poking around online to see if I could find the clock on the maker's website. Lo and behold, the clock was on the first page under the model name "Jerome". Which is incredibly ironic/awesome because that is exactly what my actual maternal grandfather's name was. Jerome J. Gatz. So this project took just took on a whole new meaning. I just hope I can pull this off the way I want to.






ps: Here's an awesome picture I got of the inside of the clock....I'm going to have to get a print of this made.



pps: I really am working on that whole "draw something every day" thing. I've been house-sitting for the past few days and don't have ready access to the internet.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

irony of ironies..

About ten minutes after making the previous post, one of my coworkers returned and I was freed to go to lunch...and on my way out, I ran into another returning from her own lunch. And she came up to me and told me that if I ever wanted to grab lunch with her, to just ask. Because she usually gets lunch on her own too.

So right after having all these thoughts of "why isn't anyone really making an effort to include me?", something like that happens. I wish I could say this was the first time, but things like that basically make up my life. It's a little strange and a lot of awesome at the same time.

Oh, and by the way! Inspired by something my friend Colin was telling me about, I've decided to make an effort to draw at least one picture every day and post it here. I'm not putting any restrictions on myself, I'm just trying to kick into gear.

por que?

I've been left at the office alone around lunchtime again. There are only so many keys to go around, so at least one person has to be left to lock up or make the office look occupied, I guess. I find myself in this position fairly often...This time it was a little different. This time, I was one of five people in the office. And I had been planning on going to lunch in about ten minutes...when ALL four other people (all guys) decided to go to lunch and Best Buy together. Okay, so I'm stuck until someone else comes back. And I'm hungry...and I'm wondering why none of them felt inclined to either invite me or ask if I was planning on going somewhere.

Ah well...I'll just crank up my music and zone out until someone gets back.

But food would be nice right about now...

Saturday, October 6, 2007

a mission and a little creative background...

I have no idea where this concept originated, but I thought it was neat. It's called Fanart100, and consists of a list of 100 prompts to inspire pictures featuring characters from any story that you enjoy. There's a whole community on LiveJournal with rules and regulations and stuff, but I don't have patience for that. Besides, I won't be using existing characters.

Rewind!

For several years, I've taken part in roleplaying online. No, nothing questionable, nothing used to pick up strangers...just a casual escape from the real world. About 8 years ago (can't believe it's been that long already), I started frequenting fantasy and anime themed AOL chatrooms, creating a character with a background that interacted with all the other characters present in the room at the time. It was entertaining, but rarely amounted to anything substantial.

Then I met my friend Cat, who introduced me to concept of breaking away from the chatroom atmosphere to roleplay with only one person, and between ourselves create a specific world and many different characters to populate and drive a specific story along. I had never heard of a creative outlet quite like it, and I found it hard to describe to anybody unfamiliar with the world of roleplaying. I've gotten a lot of blank looks while talking about the stories that have come out of the "skit", as Cat and I came to call it.

Fast-forward five or six years and we've started over countless times, added characters, dropped characters, branched off into new stories, re-vamped others, and we were beginning to run into a lull. We found ourselves joined by my current roommate and best friend Laura, who was the only person who didn't just listen and nod or stare at me blankly while I rattled on about the skit. After adding her characters and story ideas to the mix, it became obvious to me that she and I had more similar storytelling style than Cat and I did. We were also able to create a more eclectic mix of believable characters...even if sometimes their circumstances were unbelievable. So we got to thinking...why not start our own skit, using no copyrighted or existing characters or worlds, and tell a story that would be worth sharing with everybody?

Back to the present!

Laura and I have developed a very involved world, with a cast of core characters numbering in the 50s (at my last count). So we have plenty of stories to tell that have stemmed from this universe of ours....and it is THAT collection of stories that I will be drawing from for this Fanart100 challenge.

End of story, beginning of challenge.




The 100:

001.Beginnings.
002.Middles.
003.Ends.
004.Insides.
005.Outsides.
006.Hours.
007.Days.
008.Weeks.
009.Months.
010.Years.
011.Red.
012.Orange.
013.Yellow.
014.Green.
015.Blue.
016.Purple.
017.Brown.
018.Black.
019.White.
020.Colourless.
021.Friends.
022.Enemies.
023.Lovers.
024.Family.
025.Strangers.
026.Teammates.
027.Parents.
028.Children.
029.Birth.
030.Death.
031.Sunrise.
032.Sunset.
033.Too Much.

034.Not Enough.

035.Sixth Sense.
036.Smell.
037.Sound.
038.Touch.
039.Taste.
040.Sight.
041.Shapes.
042.Triangle.
043.Square.
044.Circle.
045.Moon.
046.Star.
047.Heart.
048.Diamond.
049.Club.
050.Spade.
051.Water.
052.Fire.
053.Earth.
054.Air.
055.Spirit.
056.Breakfast.
057.Lunch.
058.Dinner.
059.Food.
060.Drink.
061.Winter.
062.Spring.
063.Summer.
064.Fall.
065.Passing.
066.Rain.
067.Snow.
068.Lightening.

069.Thunder.
070.Storm.
071.Broken.
072.Fixed.
073.Light.
074.Dark.
075.Shade.
076.Who?
077.What?
078.Where?
079.When?
080.Why?
081.How?
082.If.
083.And.
084.He.
085.She.
086.Choices.
087.Life.
088.School.
089.Work.
090.Home.
091.Birthday.
092.Christmas.
093.Thanksgiving.
094.Independence.
095.New Year.
096.Artist‘s Choice.
097.Artist‘s Choice.
098.Artist‘s Choice.
099.Artist‘s Choice.
100.Artist‘s Choice.



(another) introduction

So I've already got a blog set up to showcase my professional portfolio, but I've found myself in need of another outlet that will allow me a little more freedom to say and post what I want to. I've never been very good at keeping up any sort of journal. I've started countless diaries in past years, joined LiveJournal, made a few posts on my deviantART journal, but I've never kept anything consistent and definitely nothing very in-depth. I don't plan on spilling my guts all over this blog...at least not in words. But I will be littering my posts with sketches, doodles, and finished drawings that are all like little parts of myself. This blog is my way of forcing myself to keep doodling.

I'm making promises to myself right now:

I will draw for more than just work or school.

I will keep everything that I draw, good or bad.

I
will get better!

Damn it.