ineffable Lou

who fails at updating?

2008-12-15T23:51:00.002-05:00

I do!

Goodness gracious. Life has pretty much made a 180 in the past couple of months. I have a job with RCI, working in the call center, which is something I never pictured myself doing. Luckily the company treats its employees well, I've got tons of great free vacation opportunities, great benefits, and lots of incentives. The people are great, the work isn't too bad, and I feel comfortable there.

The main benefit of working there, though, is the ability to really concentrate my creative energy on the comic that Laura and I have started. We're hoping to have our first set of pages uploaded early February!

I'll have some doodles I made on my materials over the past four weeks of training to show off...It always works out that some of my favorite drawings are done on the margins of notebooks or on scrap paper rather than my sketchbook. Ah well! Those will come soon.

How the heck has everyone else been? I'm ready for 2009!

how cool.

2008-11-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Witnessing history in the making...Wow! What an exciting night.

happy halloween!

2008-10-31T13:11:00.002-04:00

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Mreow!
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(facebook's graffiti application is addicting)

eunoia

2008-10-30T16:54:00.002-04:00

An article about this book, Eunoia by Christian Bök, was linked on today's Shoebox Blog. This guy wrote a book with five chapters, using one vowel for each chapter. I had a hard time imagining a chapter of a book that used one vowel making sense, but after reading some excerpts I'm just impressed. What an interesting premise for a book! And the lines are all so lyrical. I'm in complete awe of anybody who can spin words like this...

A:

Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack. Hassan claps, and (tah-dah) an Arab lass at a swank spa can draw a man's bath and wash a man's back, as Arab lads fawn and hang, athwart an altar, amaranth garlands as fragrant as attar - a balm that calms all angst.

E:

When she remembers Greece, her seceded demesne, she feels wretched, left here, bereft, her needs never met. She needs rest; nevertheless, her demented fevers render her sleepless (her sleeplessness enfeebles her). She needs help; nevertheless her stressed nerves render her cheerless (her cheerlessness enfetters her).

I:

Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs. Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch.

O:

Dons who work for proctors or provosts do not fob off school to work on crosswords, nor do dons go off to dorm rooms to loll on cots. Dons go crosstown to look for bookshops known to stock lots of top-notch goods: cookbooks, workbooks - room on room of how-to-books for jocks (how to jog, how to box), books on pro sports: golf or polo.

U:

Gulls churr: ululu, ululu. Ducks cluck. Bulls plus bucks run thru buckbrush; thus dun burrs clutch fur tufts. Ursus cubs plus Lupus pups hunt skunks. Curs skulk (such mutts lurk: ruff, ruff). Gnus munch kudzu. Lush shrubs bud; thus church nuns pluck uncut mums.

I love stuff like this! Very creative.

(my favorite vowel excerpt is E...)

eek

2008-10-24T18:08:00.002-04:00

In honor of rapidly approaching Halloween, I bring you the Alien Bride! bum bum BUM!

take me to your leader.

tra la la

2008-10-09T15:46:00.001-04:00

My first crayon doodle in months...I miss it.

blast from the past!

2008-10-06T14:19:00.012-04:00

My mom's been going through a purging phase since she started re-decorating her room. One of the things she came across was a portfolio FULL of all my high school art projects. Normally I cringe just thinking about my past work, but there were a few gems in the pile that I ended up taking home with me. My mom kept some things to frame and put up, so I took pictures of everything to have for myself.

So without further ado, a journey through my high school art experience (this is the only time I'm sharing past work...my sketchbooks are definitely off-limits lol)!

Here are the ubiquitous five minute gesture drawings...

And of course a study in draping fabric...

I think the assignment was "metamorphosis" for this one...?

I got a lot of crap for this next one, and not without reason. I was going for magnolia seed pod and I ended up pulling a Georgia O'Keeffe. It was completely accidental! And embarrassing. So I'm sharing it.

This assignment required me to draw the same piece of driftwood nine different times, from different angles, on different surfaces, with different tools.

Okay, that's enough for drawing...Let's see the results of my first ever painting class! First, some lilies.

And of course a (sad) self portrait. That necklace I'm wearing in the picture was one of my favorite pieces of jewelry...It had a tiny purple rose and my name on a grain of rice. And then it broke.

Can I just say I prefer just about any other medium to painting? I need more control! Anyway, here is a massively random still life. This one was my second favorite piece from this class...

And finally, the only piece that will eventually make it onto one of my walls...I'm guessing the assignment was to paint a food item or something. At the time, I didn't think much about this painting, but now the more I look at it the more quirky and fun it seems. I give you The Three Ding Dongs.

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And as a special bonus, a blast from the distant past, I present a castle I drew in 5th grade for a class project...

As embarrassing as sharing past work can be, it IS fun to see how far I've come and how everything has evolved.

woosh

2008-09-30T10:56:00.002-04:00

It was like instantaneous autumn! I left my apartment yesterday and the world was as it has been...and upon returning I find leaves covering half the parking lot and trees that had seemingly turned yellow and orange in a matter of hours! Maybe I just wasn't as observant as I thought when leaving...It just caught me off guard.

Another thing that caught me off guard? Seeing a bicyclist face-plant on the sidewalk in front of Wal-Mart on 86th street two days ago. He was right next to me as I was driving, and for no apparent reason his bike decided it was going to flip over and he ended up head-first on the pavement. It scared the bejeezus out of me. Thankfully, he got up and got back on his bike...so I'm inclined to believe he's okay. Ouch!

And speaking of "ouch", I was also witness to the making of roadkill. A squirrel ran out across the street as the car in front of me was approaching. It looked like the squirrel would make it, but I guess it forgot something on the other side of the road, because it turned around right in front of the car. What I saw next was something akin to a little rodent helicopter spinning out from the back tire then landing back on the road. Nothing gorey, just a little rodent helicopter. It was sad, but apparently I'm a sick individual because I couldn't help laughing. That's the first time I've ever seen anything run over in my life, and it turned out to be more comical than anything. I still felt bad for it!

"PGH"

2008-09-23T18:02:00.004-04:00

As in "popular girl hair"...my term for hair that looks flawless and effortless and the kind of hair I've wanted since I was young. Obviously it doesn't come without effort, but I think this is the first haircut/style I've gotten where I've been completely happy with the outcome. Here's a little before and after...

We'll see if I can re-create this look on my own...I certainly hope so.

In other news, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about (and annoyed with) my upstairs neighbor. Not only do they seem to consistently pace around their apartment at the exact time I try to go to sleep (which varies from midnight to 1, sometimes later), but I've noticed an increase in what sounds like rough-housing in the past several nights. I'll hear and feel stampeding and massive thuds, as if somebody's fallen to the floor. When I have my door and window open, I'll hear muffled yelling every once in a while...at one point in time (at 2 in the morning last night), I heard glass shatter. I don't want to stick my nose into anybody else's business but it is a little concerning, especially considering around this time last year I was unfortunate enough to hear an altercation outside my last apartment that resulted in somebody shooting themself.

In other OTHER news, I broke down and bought the complete first season of Pushing Daisies, which has easily become my favorite scripted television show. I'm a sucker for anything quirky, artistic, fairy-tale, funny, and fast-paced. And this show has it all! This is the first show I've ever bought on DVD, and I've already watched all nine episodes...and I want to watch them again. Whatever holds me over until the first week of October!

And finally, even though I don't care about awards shows in general, I was fortunate enough to turn on the Emmy's in time to see the brilliance that is Josh Groban and TV theme show medleys...Enjoy!

three weddings

2008-08-25T17:26:00.008-04:00

I attended my third and last wedding of the summer about a week ago. The first two being my cousin's, then a childhood friend's. This last one probably had the most impact for me because I grew up with Ashley and even though we haven't been as close in recent years, she's always been and will always be a big part of my life. She and Sarah are the people I think of when I hear the phrase "the older you get, the more you need people who knew you when you were young" (name that song!). Of course, I'm still young...but there's a nice sisterly bond there that's lasted for 22 years through ups and downs.

The wedding was simple and fun. Which is really how weddings should be, in my opinion. It was extra interesting because the groom (Francis) is from Nigeria, and his family had the most beautiful clothes. Gorgeous fabrics and bright colors. For the reception, Ashley and Francis changed into special outfits made from fabric imported from Nigeria (shown above). Beautiful!

I think it's amazing how different weddings can be. Granted, before this summer, the last wedding I'd been to was my cousin Allison's wedding almost ten years ago...so these past three are really the only ones that are fresh in my memory. But you'd think with something as common as marriage, everything would start to feel the same after a while. So far (luckily), that hasn't been my experience. Jared and Jen had been dating for ten years before they got married, so everybody seemed to know each other already...it was comfortable, fun, and tastefully elegant. Andy and Courtney's wedding was massively opulent...I didn't get to stay for the dancing, but it was great to see some friends from high school. It was a bit of sensory overload with the five foot sculpted ice vase, hundreds of red roses and strawberries everywhere, picture slideshow projected on one wall, lights and candles, and just about everything you'd expect to see in a celebrity wedding. Ashley and Francis kept things simple and to-the-point, just focusing on family and friends, music and fun.

I'm not saying any wedding was better than the others, it was just interesting to see how much variety there was...I've never thought about what I want my own wedding to be like, and honestly I still have a hard time picturing myself getting married at this point in my life. All I know is I want it to be fun!

Okay, girly wedding talk done.

TTMMLOL

2008-08-20T00:17:00.002-04:00

Things that make me laugh out loud.

(It doesn't take much)

2D is not dead!

2008-08-16T00:18:00.003-04:00

A new Disney princess movie...in 2D! Set in New Orleans...There's concept art in the Character Design blog linked on the right, and it looks lovely!

I'm such a sucker for anything Disney and princess....

random ABCs

2008-08-14T22:34:00.003-04:00

Okay, I lied...no sketches this time, just a collection of random words in alphabetical order. I found them on this site. A lot of them were just words that made me laugh and think "there's actually a word for that?".

Adamitism : nakedness for religious reasons

Bacillicide : killer of berries

Chasmophile : lover of nooks and crannies

Dysteleology : study of purposeless organs

Ecdysiast : striptease performer

Floromancy : belief that flowers have feelings

Gamomania : obsession with issuing odd marriage proposals

Hadeharia : constant use of the word "hell"

Irenology : study of peace

Jettatura : the evil eye

Kit : a small pocket violin

Lollop : to bound about wildly

Myristivorous : feeding upon nutmegs

Neolatry : worship of novelty

Oikology : science of housekeeping

Pogonaisis : excessive growth of beard

Quagswag : to shake to and fro

Resofincular : resembling a wire hanger

Saponify : to convert into soap

Tichorrhine : woolly rhinoceros

Utricide : one who stabs an inflated skin vessel instead of killing someone

Voltigeur : lightly armed skirmisher

Wheeple : to whistle feebly

Xenodocheionology : love of hotels

Yakow : animal crossbred from male yak and a domestic cow

Zoocephalic : animal-headed

It would be an interesting challenge to use each of these words in a sentence, I think.

that's more like it

2008-08-14T16:39:00.002-04:00

I've been on a roll for the past week and everything in my life is receiving a little make-over, including this blog. I just need a change every once in a while...if I could afford it, I'd probably be going to get my hair cut and colored because it's getting to that time of year. I've started making a conscious effort to walk at least a mile every day and eat healthier. I'd love to just go shopping and get an entirely new wardrobe. I want new music, more artwork for my apartment, and a new job and people to work with.

I finally feel like I'm going forward and getting out of this rut, and that's the best feeling in the world. I have a job interview tomorrow, so here's to a step in the right direction!

Sketches will come next, I think.

easily amused

2008-08-05T15:52:00.002-04:00

I got distracted by some random video clips on the Comcast site...I have no other explanation.

stop playing clock games!

2008-08-03T18:31:00.002-04:00

My alarm went off at nine this morning, just like I'd set it to last night. What was unusual about this morning was how incredibly tired I was when it went off. Granted, I fell asleep just after one in the morning, so perhaps my body needed more sleep than it had gotten...But when I kept drifting back into solid sleep over the next two hours, I had to snap myself out of it and get out of bed because there was no way I was sleeping in past eleven. Not when I have schoolwork to finish up!

So I got dressed and plopped down in front of the computer to start on my Digital and Noir Culture class for the day...The first item on my list for that class was watching Pulp Fiction. I'll get back to that later...the real point of this story is the fact that 45 minutes into the movie I happen to glance at the clock and see that it only read 10:00. I looked at the other clock, and it said the same. I looked at my phone. 10:00 in the a.m. I paused the movie and went in to look at my bedside clock.

12:03?

Awesome. I somehow, and it's still a complete mystery to me, but I SOMEHOW managed to reset my clock ahead two hours and three minutes. And in the process I robbed myself of two hours of restful sleep.

I was just baffled, but fully awake...so I laughed it off and went back to the movie.

I'm surprised I liked Pulp Fiction as much as I did. It was interesting, I actually laughed out loud in some areas, and it's something I'll definitely want to watch again.

I'm so behind the curve when it comes to movies...Go me!

mini therapy session

2008-07-30T11:38:00.002-04:00

The past couple of months have been far from ideal. At the root of it all is this struggle to motivate myself, which honestly gets harder the longer this rut goes on. The only difference between this rut and previous ruts is that it's actually keeping me from making a living. So it needs to end, and I think I'm taking steps to get past it.

I'm not an extremely religious person anymore. I've been to two weddings this summer and that's the most I've been inside a church for months (maybe even years). I don't necessarily believe all of the teachings of the christian church, but what I do take from it is a sense of comfort. Comfort in the people who attend my church, who've seen me grow and despite my absence always make an effort to know how I'm doing when they see me. Comfort in the feeling of just walking into my church. That one is hard to explain, because I feel the same way any time I go to visit the Synod office (Lutheran church head office) where I used to work. It isn't just familiarity that comforts me, but every time I'm in either of those places I feel warm and unconditionally welcome. The people there are genuinely happy to see me.

Another thing that has always brought me comfort is this belief that if you step back, let things take their course, everything will eventually fall into place. It's happened several times that I can remember in my life. I've gone through this process: Unfortunate/inconvenient event happens, I lose focus, I stress out, I have a little breakdown, and soon after I'm presented with a newer (usually better) opportunity. It's happened so many times to me, on a much smaller scale, that I can't help but believe there is something or someone that is in control and looking out for me.

There's a hymn I've turned to in the past that pretty much sums up that belief. I have a couple versions of it on my iTunes, and I was listening this morning when both versions came up back-to-back. This is just the first verse, but it most closely encapsulates the way I choose to believe.

Be still, my soul...the Lord is on your side.
 Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
 leave to your God to order and provide;
 in every change God faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul...your best, your heavenly friend
 through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

The above drawing was really just something for myself, because I haven't just drawn for myself in a long time.

pure evil?

2008-06-21T22:29:00.002-04:00

All right, I may be going to hell for this, but I couldn't help myself. This was one of those situations where I wish I had my camera with me, or an opportunity to take a photograph, because it was one of those moments in life that I will remember forever.

Laura and I were walking around Clay Terrace and decided we wanted to get some ice cream, so we step into Cold Stone and we're standing behind this guy holding a baby and his (presumably) wife. Now, the guy was actually very attractive...but the baby. Oh my god, the baby. There really aren't words for how scary this baby looked.

So I made a little sketch.

I swear, every time I looked at the baby I started laughing. And every time I started laughing, Laura started. We managed to cover it up enough so that (hopefully) the couple didn't realize we were laughing at their baby. The line was painfully long too...so this baby was staring at me for a good 10-15 minutes. It was the greatest exercise in self-restraint I've experienced in a while.

I'm a little scared

2008-06-20T22:36:00.003-04:00

Models are frightening.

Actual picture from an agency's webpage....

I wonder what she's thinking....

the internet is an amazing thing.

2008-06-10T23:53:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty sure everybody's Googled their name or somebody else's name at some point in time. I, for one, have found that there is another Lauren Smith working as a graphic designer in California...he's a middle-aged man, though. But anyway, I decided to try Googling my dad's name the other night after talking to him on the phone. Granted, with a name like Steve Smith it's hard to narrow any search results down to find information on my dad in particular...but I was rewarded with my perseverance by this:

That, my friends, is a car that was modeled and skinned by someone on this forum to specifically look like my dad's race car. I have pictures of myself with that car when I was about 5-6 years old. I just thought it was a really neat find...I couldn't find any video of races on youtube, but oh well. I still think this is cool.

Kung Fu Panda!

2008-06-08T21:33:00.002-04:00

This is what it took to kick me out of my blogging lull.

I've seen Kung Fu Panda twice in two days and I have a feeling I could watch it again tomorrow, and the next day. There are really only a handful of movies that share that quality for me. The Incredibles, The Producers, Singin' in the Rain...and others. Okay, honestly, I probably couldn't watch all of those every single day, but you get my point.

Kung Fu Panda has it all...beautiful scenery, awesome character design, brilliant animation, exciting cinematography, simple endearing storyline, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Of course it's not very hard to make me laugh, but everyone else seemed to be laughing at the same parts with me, so there!

Some of the things that struck me the most were pretty subtle...stuff like the animation of Oogway, the old turtle. He doesn't just stand perfectly still, he has the slightest tremble in his head and hands when he's talking...that sort of unsteadiness that comes from old age. I just haven't seen that little detail incorporated in any other elderly 3D animated characters before. Not only that, but anytime there's a moment where a character doesn't say anything, but you can tell exactly what progression their emotions are taking, I'm just floored. That's masterful animation right there.

And since seeing stills from the movie, and the official website, I've been in love with the scenery. I want to find an image of just the backgrounds used in the movie, because they're gorgeous. The colors! I wish I could see places in real life that had colors like that.

I'm gushing, I can't help it. I expected this movie to be entertaining, but I didn't expect it to be THIS entertaining. I know some people will probably be very critical of the movie, but oh well. Who cares if the storyline isn't completely groundbreaking? Its beauty is in its simplicity.

See?

the First!

2008-05-06T12:22:00.002-04:00

Me drawing Eva...I'm going to do more videos like this to upload to YouTube. Because I can and it's kind of fun to watch myself draw. There are a few times when I'm watching and I think "I don't remember doing that..".

I've been trying not to fall into the habit of being lazy for the past week. I'll be honest, it's nice to not have anything to do...but if I don't have anything to do, then it feels like I don't do anything. And I like to go to bed feeling like I've accomplished something that day.

It's a weird sort of lull. I haven't been unemployed since I was a junior in high school. I'm not saying I'm a workaholic, but basically between work and school I've had something to get up and do almost everyday from then until now. So it is strange for me.

Luckily, it doesn't look like that'll be the case much longer. I'm driving down to Bloomington on Wednesday to meet with Studio Cypher about some contract work over the summer. So here's hoping that leads to bigger and better things!

both ends of the spectrum

2008-04-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

I can officially say that the last few months have been the most busy of my life. I've been scrambling to get my Capstone project finished and presentable, juggling other classes and work, moving, settling, and countless other little things.

On the happy end of the spectrum is my Capstone presentation. I don't think it could have gone better, honestly. I was happy with the turnout, I was happy with my finished pages and interactive flash display, I was happy that both my parents got to see what I've been working on for the past four months, and I was happy that my project got such a good reaction from everyone who took the time to see it.
After almost a week of either little sleep or extremely restless sleep at someone else's house, it was great to finally be able to relax in my own apartment on my new couches and just do NOTHING. My dad stayed overnight and we spent Saturday together...I basically didn't even turn my computer on over the weekend.
Having finished something so huge (well, finished as far as school is concerned..), I really feel like I could take on the world. Here was a project that, from the start, was very close to my heart. It was the start of something that Laura and I have been thinking about doing for years. Now it's pretty hard to stop. I'm on a roll.

And then Monday hit!

I woke up to a voicemail from my coworker asking to send him the things I'd been working on and making some comment about not being sure what I wanted to do with my personal stuff. And that confused me a little....until I checked my work email and found a message saying that the past week had been my last at Sticky Matters. It was dated Wednesday, which was the day that I was called and told that everybody would be working from home on Wednesday because they weren't sure about the situation with the office building (since our primary investor had run into trouble). Now...maybe I'm being a little paranoid and/or bitter, but to me it seemed like that phone call was a way to keep ME out of the office the day they decided to lay me off. I don't know, I'll ask Kelly to see if anyone else was asked to stay home that day.

Anyway...One small blessing in that was the fact that I didn't have internet access in the house I was staying at, so I didn't get that email before Capstones. Because if I had known that I was laid off before Capstones, that night would have turned out MUCH differently.

So there's that.

This situation is still FAR from ideal, but I don't know...I have this feeling that this is one of those big bumps that I've got to get over before finding something better.

If there's one thing that life has taught me so far, it's that things work themselves out if you just trust in yourself and keep an eye out for opportunities.

And that's my last three months or so in a nutshell.

one more thing.

2008-03-21T22:47:00.004-04:00

Note the caption under the website title "Good Game for Your Whole Family".

If you make it so that the cannibals outweigh the missionaries, then the missionaries get "eaten" (meaning they turn into what looks like a steak".

What. the. hell.

mmmmmmore doodles

2008-03-21T20:49:00.006-04:00

and then i KICK

Bored Fairy...

(direct quote from myself...it was a weird night.)

Jasper

He's about an inch high...

Juniper (duh)

She's been hanging around since about December and I haven't come any closer to finishing her...so I'll just post what I have so far.

have you ever...

2008-03-20T20:14:00.006-04:00

Ever been driving and listening to your iPod/CD/whatever when a song comes on that matches the mood of the day and the scene so perfectly it feels like you're in a movie? You know those scenes in movies with montages of characters driving places or going about their lives? I had that happen the other day while I was on my way to work (it was rainy and gloomy). The song "Best I Ever Had (Gray Sky Morning)" by Vertical Horizon came on, and I felt like I was in some sort of emo montage from a romantic comedy, at the point in the movie when the main couple has had their big fight and they're both in their separate places feeling sorry for themselves.. Of course, my life is NOTHING like a romantic comedy, but the mood and the music just happened to fit perfectly.

Another thing I really enjoy is when a song you're listening to happens to match up exactly with the click-click of your turn signal. I discovered John Mayer's "Stop This Train" syncs with my turn signal clicking exactly. That's always fun.

Let's see, what else...

I always have to laugh when I see people jogging on the sidewalk that look like they don't normally jog. Because they just kind of look like they're running from something.

In other news, I found out I don't get the keys to my new apartment until April 1st, and I have until the 7th to move out of my current one. So that gives me roughly an extra week to get stuff together. It's looking like this move will go smoother than the past couple. I really do hope that's the case, because I don't need more to stress about right now.

I had a dream last night that I went to check out my new apartment, just do a walk-through and visit it before I moved in. The apartment complex looked nothing like the one I live in (which usually happens in dreams), first of all. There were so many hallways leading in all different directions and ending in odd places. The walls were painted deep, bright blues, and there were random signs all over the place.

I got outside (because I'm actually transferring to the OTHER building that makes up the apartment complex) and tried to find my way to the other building. But there was this tall fence and pretty tall grass between the buildings for some reason. And the only way around the fence was through these huge bleachers full of people on the other side, apparently watching a concert of some sort (I think there were fireworks..even though it was the middle of the day). Once I got through that and finally into the other building, there was another series of confusing hallways...the apartment doors were numbered in completely illogical ways.

It felt like I was going around in circles trying to find apartment 235...until I came to this giant open room with what looked like four or five sunken floor areas that were numbered. One of them was occupied by this girl who was clipping her toenails, I think. She had really greasy hair and her clothes were all a mess...her little square area was cluttered with a bunch of crap. And guess what? The sunken area right next to hers was labeled 235. As if that was going to be my apartment. This little area in a big open room, no walls, no privacy. I believe I said something along the lines of "oh, hell no" in my dream and stormed off to the office to see if I could get a different place...something along the lines of a REAL apartment. So, I ended the dream stressed about finding a way to get everything straightened out in the short week I had left.

I laugh about it now, but if something like that happened I'd have to cry.

The crazy blue walls WERE kind of cool, though.

awesome.

2008-03-08T11:40:00.003-05:00

So the previously mentioned box of 64 crayons had 8 colors that were "Kids' Choice Colors: By Kids - About Kids". I think this photo says it all. Click to enlarge if you can't read the color names...

Upside and downside.

2008-03-07T23:00:00.006-05:00

I just can't get enough of crayons lately for some reason...Here are some of my new doodles. The first few are from Macaroni Grill, which I didn't keep...the last is from Thuper Thursday (aka after-class dinner with John, Jon, and Laura at Friday's)! So now I have two crayon doodles for my collection...

In other news, I decided that instead of just waiting to go to restaurants that had kids menus and crayons, I would stop by Target and buy my own. Did you know that a pack of 8 crayons is only $ .79? I think that's awesome. But alas...I opted for the 64 pack with the sharpener in the back, even though I'll probably only use select colors. Hey, $3 well spent in my mind.

But as happy as new art supplies (even though they be but crayons) make me, my good mood was somewhat dampened by the discovery of my passenger side mirror cracked and loose after somebody apparently hit it with something (I'm assuming a car). I swear, my car must have some sort of HIT ME aura, because this is the second time something like this has happened to it. I still have yet to get my cracked bumper fixed from some anonymous (presumably snowplow) collision last year. So now I have a cracked, loose side mirror, a cracked bumper, and the driver's door handle doesn't work from the outside. I've only had this car for about a year and a half...how ridiculous is that? I'm hoping that's it for my "bad things come in threes" and we can be done shelling out money to fix stupid things.

More photos to come soon.

doodlin'!

2008-03-04T17:56:00.003-05:00

I've decided that every time I go to a place that has kids menus and crayons, I'm going to doodle something. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, but I'll do something. Because there's just something about crayons and kids menus that bring out fun little things like these:

(okay so it's not crayon, oh well...)

mesmerizing.

2008-02-26T23:55:00.002-05:00

I saw a video like this a few years back, but stumbled on it again. I could watch this sort of thing for hours.

Beautiful, dynamic art!

things're lookin' good

2008-02-25T23:26:00.002-05:00

Got positive feedback on my first two penciled pages of my capstone project, as well as two more pages thumbnailed and ready to pencil. Stuff seems to finally be falling into place.

I took the evening to sketch whatever came to mind.

I needed that...now back to work!

this week's random pictures.

2008-02-22T20:39:00.007-05:00

And I really do mean random...

Parking Lot LOVE

Nan, you're a window shopper.

EPIC icicle (that word never looks right when you type it...)

I imagine I will...at some point in the future...(this is the same place that produced the fortune "A nice cake is waiting for you"...i'm noticing a trend)

Cup-shaped ice with straw!

Another view!

It looks kinda sad now...

That concludes this week's random pictures. Tune in next week!

i feel DIRTY

2008-02-20T18:41:00.004-05:00

This quiz is JUNK!

That is one of my absolute LEAST favorite fonts in the history of fonts...

And that description? Totally not me.

I had a hard time choosing any of the answers to the questions, since none of them really applied to me.

So that's my excuse for getting this result.

I have to go shower for like two hours now....

faces of IT131

2008-02-18T19:35:00.004-05:00

So I was waiting a few hours after class and ended up in the 24 hour lab in the IT building, in the prime location for some people watching/sketching. There were some interesting faces in the crowd..

One of the guys got up and left before I could finish him. Ah well...I'll have to start doing this more often.

MADLIBS!

2008-02-17T11:38:00.002-05:00

You don't need to go out drinking for a good time. No no. All you need to do is stay in with creative people and do Madlibs for an hour and you've got yourself inside jokes for life. And possibly a hernia...

Here are just a few of the stories Jon, Laura, and I came up with. I laughed so much I almost cried.

Description of the Lovely Group That I Am In

We are having a perfectly fluffy time this evening in the mysterious home of Jon*. The rooms are decorated pointedly with many stylish kitties that must have cost at least $42. The guests are all mind-numbing conversationalists and are all squarely dressed. Lou has been entertaining us by telling us about the time she showed her hairy cow to Laura, who mistook it for an early American pocket. The refreshments are fleshy, and the idea of serving hot and transparent hors d'oeuvres showed imagination. Visiting here is always an odorous experience.

Fable #1

Once upon a time, a chockful guide expert named Jon felt a smelly pain. He sent for a rough surgeon who looked at his decorative stomach and said, "Holy shit!" Then he muttered drunkenly "I see your trouble. The squirrel on your dapper stomach is overlapping the sock next to your kidney." The surgeon absolutely took him to the barbequed operating room of the hospital. there he made an unnecessary incision reaching from the patient's duck to his button. "Oh snap!" said the surgeon. "That takes care of that constricted nostril." With that, he began sewing up the incision. However, on the tenth stitch the patient sneezed and almost pulled the baked potato out of the frame, but the surgeon took one final stitch and saved the truck. MORAL: A hook in time saves nine.

Advice to Prospective Parents

Congratulations to all of you cleansing mothers and fishy fathers. You are about to give birth to a broccoli. Remember, a happy child comes from a happy crimp. The arrival of your ping-pong will cause many sparse changes in your life. You'll probably have to get up at 4 am to give the little manwhore its bottle of yellow milk and change his or her broads. Later when he or she is 3.14 years old and able to walk, you'll hear the patter of little breadsticks around the house. And in no time, your child will be talking frankly, and calling you his or her "llama", and saying things like, "Teh fuck?!" right to your face. It's no wonder they are called little bundles of foot.

My Dream Girl

The girl of my dreams has horrible lime green hair scented like apples. Her eyes are like two periwinkle pools of orange juice. And her lips remind me of wavy huevos. Her skin is as smooth and lovely as a hard scene, and she has a figure like Lou. When she enters a room, people always stare at her and say "Goddamnit**! What a cool woman!" Her sense of humor is always hungry, and people marvel at her stuttering vocabulary. In my dreams I see her wearing a drunk dress and a diamond mustache in her hair. I would gladly give up all my rattles for one evening with this fergalicious female. Her name is Laura.

My Dream Man

My "dream man" should, first of all, be very thirsty and unholy. He should have a physique like Michael Jackson, a profile like Simon Amstell, and the intelligence of an antelope. He must be polite and always remember to prance my documentary, to tip his squid, and to take my gizzards when crossing the street. He should move ridiculously, should have a peachy voice, and should always dress finely. I would also like him to be a clammy dancer and when we're alone he should whisper rampant nothings in my eyelid and hold my rocky stoner. I know a marshmellowy man like this is hard to find. In fact, the only one I can think of is Jon.

"Secret" Letter From an Admirer

Dear Miss Laura,
You may not recall my porkchop, but I met you at the braided cocktail party given by our sugar-coated friend, Lou. We had a juicy talk about funky sheep, and I was impressed by your flaming conversation and your grasp of the captivating situation. Also, I was very much attracted by your empty eyes, your wrinkled little chin, and your curly teeth. If you'll pardon me for seeming dead, I was fascinated by your swollen walk and by your wrong figure. I hope I made an annoying impression and that we can get together for a nice Saturn next week.
Angrily yours,
Jon

Proper Care of the Scalp (this was the last one we did, and by far the most wrong. you have been warned)

Don't neglect your scalp! Even though you don't know it, your scalp may be kinky. This can cause your hair to turn flushed and plump. A cross-eyed scalp is due to over activity on the part of the fetish gland and to excessive production of the optometrists normally present in the skin. For a healthy scalp, wash your head morbidly every night in homosexual water and then take a hot slinky shampoo. Then massage your fiddler for five minutes with a sharp windmill. If you suffer from dastardly hair, soak your beast regularly in a sunscreen of vinegar. Good luck!

*we were actually NOT in Jon's home. This story lies.

**alternate word provided by Laura: "Fuckpumpkins!"

so far, so good

2008-02-16T22:05:00.011-05:00

Post #50!

This is the best I've done with a blog this far. I even took the time to personalize it a bit more. I'm no web design expert, but it's always nice to see something like this work. Anyway!

It's become a tradition now for Laura, Jon, and me to go out to dinner on Thursdays after class. This Thursday we had some more people join us (including another John, a Colin, and a Jay). Hopefully this continues, because it really is a fun time.

First, the weird faces:

I'd suggest taking a closer look at this one...

Because I wasn't in the group picture making a weird face. I tend to favor the cross-eyed look. Oh, and that's Jon's hand. He was a ninja and snuck them in at the last minute.

Now, general goofiness:

John rocking his alien look.

Colin saying something REALLY important!

what's THAT?!

Nantucket Nectars Orange Mango is the BEST. John looks unimpressed, though.

Rockin' out with the salt and pepper shakers. Jay contemplates this...

aaaaaaaaaahhhCHICKEN SAUCE!

Laura, Jon and I ended up going to dinner on Friday night as well, since it was payday and it was Friday...and what better way to celebrate the coming of the weekend than a nice evening among friends? We went to Applebee's for their awesome fiesta wrappers, or whatever they're called. A good time was had by all.

Oh! And Jon drew a squid. With a bowtie.

more random things.

2008-02-08T20:48:00.000-05:00

So, I had my first physical therapy session today. Obviously I'm not running and jumping around yet, but it was nice to see where I was at and where I needed to be. Interesting fact of the day: apparently I have hypermobility in my ankles. Or at least my left one. I probably had it in my right before I went and broke it...Basically I can tilt my ankle at more extreme angles than average, which I guess also means I need more strength to keep my ankle stable. Or something like that. So anyway, I've got six exercises to do at home twice a day...and I have to go to physical therapy twice a week for the next six weeks...

I called my ankle doctor's office to see if I could take the boot off yet, since it's been seven weeks and the impression I'd gotten was that after six weeks, I'd be able to go without it. So three hours or so after I'd called, I decide screw it, I'm going out with no boot, damn it. AND I'm going to drive. Because I've been walking around the apartment for the past week or so without the boot and I feel confident. And two months of not driving is more than enough, thank you. So Laura and I went out for a little drive, and it was awesome. Of course, in the middle of the drive my doctor's office called back and told me to wait until my appointment next Tuesday before taking the boot off since they'd be taking an X-ray and checking my progress. Oh well!

So after a little drive we ended up in Starbucks to work on our story and enjoy free coffee. And, of course, to take lots of weird pictures of Colin...

Look! No boot!

And just because I was waiting for Laura to grab money from her brother, and it was interesting lighting, and I'm forever trying to get a good picture of myself because I'm totally vain like that...

Okay done!

things.

2008-02-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Things that have annoyed me over the past few days:

1. Jace Lucas asking me if I have a website, scoffing at my mention of having a blog, and upon seeing my portfolio briefly, saying "Cute. What's it called?" in his usual condescending tone of voice. I wanted to slap him.

2. Catching some random stomach bug that caused me to actually throw up for the first time in recent memory. Not a pleasant way to start the day...hopefully tomorrow turns out better. Jon did do this nice little dramatization for me earlier (using the font Harrington, of course):

3. This crap weather hasn't done a lot to help moods...The fog yesterday was crazy (not to mention kind of creepy).

Things that have amused me over the past few days:

1. Laura pouring the perfect glass of soda. Apparently there was exactly enough soda left in the bottle to fill up the glass she'd gotten EXACTLY. It was a modern-day miracle. Observe:

2. Fulfilling my margarita craving. And finding butt indents on the booth seat from the person who'd been sitting there before...

my desk is pretty!

2008-01-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

As promised, pictures of the awesome part of my dad's birthday present to me...It's a jade plant made out of stone. Yup...every bit of that is stone! It's gorgeous, and a welcome addition to my barren desk. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

So pretty...

Yaaaay

2008-01-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

Done in class last week while I was probably supposed to be following along....creepy, but amusing to me. Yaaay!

Birthdays 3 and 4

2008-01-27T19:55:00.000-05:00

So, birthday celebration #3 was a joint celebration with my mom, who has a birthday this coming Wednesday. We went to Yen Ching with Allison, Chris, and the kids and had awesome chinese food. I don't get to go there often, so it's always a treat. The kids were in rare form. I think Aidan has two volumes- loud and LOUD. Evan made a pretty epic mess on the floor, including crackers, rice, socks, shoes, etc...He seemed pretty pleased with himself. It was pretty funny. We went to Steak 'n' Shake afterwards for--you guessed it!--MILKSHAKES. I drew Brenna a princess on the back of my placemat thing. It was honestly one of my best pieces of SnS art, but alas..I didn't take a picture of it before I gave it to her. Ah well! It was fun. I always love spending time with them!

And last but not least, birthday celebration #4 was with my dad. He came up for the day and we hung around the apartment, went shopping for a new keyboard and mouse, then went to dinner. We always seem to end up at Macaroni Grill, because it's one of my favorite restaurants. I like being able to color on the table while you wait for your food. And their bread is great. Here is what my dad and I came up with for the evening:

I just had at it!

My dad's handiwork...ignore the shadow of me taking a picture!

This is what the table looked like when we were through with it..haHA!

I'll be uploading a picture of the present my dad gave me once I have it in place. He got me this gorgeous jade flower plant..it's really hard to describe, but it's beautiful. It has little white stone flowers and from a distance almost looks real. I'll be putting it on my desk at work, so I'll take a picture of it there. My dad's always been good at finding unusual pretty things for me, and this birthday was no exception.

You'll see!

thanks, Jon.

2008-01-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

Jon sent me a link to a typographic translation of a scene from Pulp Fiction. Which then made me branch out into the related videos. Which reminded me of why I like typography so much. People who have a strong grasp of typography impress me to no end...What they do may seem simple, but it really isn't. They can convey any sort of idea through letters and punctuation, just by changing the font, spacing, weight, etc...At least the good typographers can. Here's an example that I thought was pretty awesome:

Wish it would show the rest of the song...but yeah, that just really impresses me.

Random sketch

2008-01-27T00:03:00.001-05:00

My random sketch for the day.

Character Thing

2008-01-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

Here's another sketchy-type thing I've been working on. These things have been popping up all over deviantART lately. They're called "meme"s...which I have no idea how to pronounce. I can think of several different ways of saying it, but they all sound kind of stupid. So I'll just call it a "Thing". That's a little more universal, I think. Anyway! This is Beau Morin, one of the characters from my skit with Laura. Nora makes an appearance as well...And Adie (Di). But only briefly.

Enjoy!

(Click to view the full-size version, otherwise you'll be really confused)

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MASSIVE UPDATE!

2008-01-24T11:35:00.000-05:00

So wow! Almost a month since I last updated...this is going to be a pretty disjointed (and somewhat abbreviated) post. Or not. We'll see how it turns out...One thing I know, there WILL be pictures!

New Year's:

Laura and I had Jon over and we decorated sugar cookies, drank, missed the ball dropping, and watched the movie Just Friends. Laura went to bed at 3 because she had to work, and Jon and I stayed up until 5 talking. That was an extreme fluke in my normal behavior because I'm usually asleep by 2, especially with alcohol. But alas...Here are some pictures.

Everyone wanted to play with my crutch.

This is about as good a group picture of us as anybody will ever get...

Jon :(
Laura :D

Icing poop. Incredibly mature, I know...

Our confectionary masterpieces.

Birthday 1:

This year I get TWO shared birthday dinners, which is kind of fun. Jon's birthday was two days before mine, so we celebrated with a group of friends. Kona Grill and Comedy Sportz is an interesting combination, I have to say...Mostly due to the fact that Kona Grill is a pretty hip place, neat decor, with some exotic (and totally AWESOME) food. And then ComedySportz is all about beer and junk food, jeans and t-shirt, yelling out random things and laughing your ass off. So it was the best of both worlds that night. Here are some pictures of THAT...

My mandatory post-prep PRETTY picture! I like dressing up.

Laura's making her PRETTY face!

Colin NOT making a weird face at the camera!

Jon and Laura NOT making weird faces at the camera!

EVERYBODY not making weird faces at the camera!

There. SOMEONE had to do it.

Birthday 2:

My actual birthday was really pretty nice. Very low-key. Jon treated me to PF Chang's, which was awesome. I'm pretty sure that was only the second time I'd been there. And when I got home, I opened the door to UGLY CAKE!! I don't know why I wasn't expecting it, because Laura's got a habit of making Ugly Cakes for friends. It must have just completely escaped my mind...But anyway! There it was, the most epic Ugly Cake Laura's made yet. It made my day! Jon came over and we ate, drank, and were merry. The only real downer was finding out about Heath Ledger's death that afternoon...It's still hard to believe.

The Ugly Cake wasn't ugly enough, so Jon added sprinkles to the mix.

The birthday spread...Mexican casserole, salad, and Ugly Cake!

Ugly Cake on FIRE!

The birthday buddies.

Ugly Cake in all it's brightly-lit Ugly Glory.

This is what happens when you eat Ugly Cake.

My Broken Ankle Saga:

Yesterday marked 5 weeks since I broke my ankle. So as far as I know, with one more week, I may be able to ditch the boot and start walking like a normal person again. And drive! I'm so looking forward to driving myself. The past five weeks have been the most frustrating and annoying...but also the most uplifting, really.

Having to ask people to get things for me constantly, to carry things for my constantly, and to drive me places constantly got pretty old pretty fast. So did losing my balance, dropping things, and being afraid of "Caution: Wet Floor" signs.

But honestly, as frustrating as all of this was, I kept being reminded of what awesome people I'm surrounded with. I got cards and phone calls from people at the Synod office wishing me well and reminding me prayers were being sent my way.

As of now, I'm walking without crutches. It still aches sometimes, but the bruising is gone and the last time I got an X-ray, everything looked like it'd fallen back into place. Just one more week or so of dependence, then hopefully I'll be out of everyone's hair!

Some Sketches:

I have more than this, but I felt like I should at least stick SOMETHING up...so here's a tiny collection of doodles.

More to come, I promise!

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ho-hum

2007-12-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

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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Stardust

2007-12-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

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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people are awesome.

2007-12-21T19:55:00.000-05:00

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.

storytime!

2007-12-20T19:21:00.000-05:00

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!

lookit!

2007-12-18T11:29:00.001-05:00

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

Things.

2007-12-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

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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time out!

2007-12-13T21:08:00.000-05:00

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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:D

2007-12-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

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

weird dreams

2007-12-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

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.

sketches

2007-12-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-12-02T10:55:00.000-05:00

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"!

.

Saturday consisted of...

2007-11-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-24T19:21:00.001-05:00

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.

and another thing!

2007-11-21T00:10:00.001-05:00

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!

just sharing.

2007-11-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

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

.

road rage!

2007-11-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

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.

.

jim jimmy jim jim

2007-11-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

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

-

uuuuuhhhhhhhh.....

2007-11-14T23:13:00.000-05:00

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

Wow.

ick!

2007-11-12T22:16:00.000-05:00

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.

-

the cycle continues

2007-11-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

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.

another rant (sorry)

2007-11-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

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?

-

semi-feminist rant ahead.

2007-11-05T22:06:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-11-05T02:08:00.000-05:00

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)!

portrait and 21 things

2007-11-03T02:27:00.000-04:00

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...

Tessa

2007-11-02T17:36:00.001-04:00

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.

bleagh.

2007-11-01T22:40:00.000-04:00

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.

(in shock)

2007-10-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-10-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

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.

first sketch!

2007-10-28T22:39:00.000-04:00

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...

OK Go!! Oh-oh-oh!

2007-10-27T15:01:00.000-04:00

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!

Crash the Party!

2007-10-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

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?)

The Name Game!

2007-10-25T14:11:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-25T02:08:00.000-04:00

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!

mmmMaksim

2007-10-23T22:53:00.000-04:00

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

That's all.

advice from a bumper sticker

2007-10-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

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!

oooOOOOOoooo....

2007-10-13T10:59:00.000-04:00

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.

irony of ironies..

2007-10-10T18:18:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-10-10T12:27:00.000-04:00

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...

a mission and a little creative background...

2007-10-06T20:10:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-06T19:09:00.000-04:00

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.