Our society is seriously going down the toilet. I'd elaborate, but elaborating would just feel like endorsing it. And I don't have any solutions, so I feel stuck. Well, I guess I can say that what frightens me aren't the blatant, in-your-face gags for attention that everyone kind of shudders at, even if we shudder a little less each time, but the things that are supposed to be innocent, the things that are "cheeky". Maybe what most people find "cheeky" and cute in an edgy kind of way, I just find utterly shocking and offensive.
It's tempting to go on and indulge in the torrent of things that sicken and discourage me and confuse me...but I don't think that would be helpful. So how do we confront a society that is on the verge of openly encouraging, in all aspects of life (including places that are supposed to be professional), images and/or attitudes of sex, crassness, rudeness, pride, and a few other characteristics that I can't think of right now? I'll send them emails. I'll do it right now.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Definitely time for an update
First, I’m feeling much better, thank you. Most of whatever it was had passed by last Monday evening, when I felt well enough to voraciously wolf down two incredibly delicious burritos at dinner.
All last week I worked on a project that turned out extremely well, if I do say so myself :) I will post pictures on Friday, hopefully, when it will be “safe” to do so. I’ll also tell you all about the process, because a lot was involved to get it to its finished state.
My mum mailed me a bunch of cards I’d done a couple weeks ago and that she found hanging out at home in NY. On Saturday I photographed all of them in six or seven sets for selling them on etsy. I’ve read on the forums that it’s ideal to list once or twice a day, rather than all at once, because it keeps you at the top of the search lists and, therefore, people are more likely to see and click on your item. The default way of listing search results is by date listed, and since people list thousands and thousands of things every day, one’s products can quickly fall to page 358 in the search results. I also typed up some info for each set on Saturday, so that for the past couple of days, real quick in the morning and in the evening, I can fill out the forms for listing and get in one or two new items a day. It’s worked- I’ve gotten more views on those items, and a few more views in my shop in general (though the view counters are constantly resetting- arg), than I’d been getting before this week. Huzzah!
My cell phone has a mind of its own. I’ve always sort of suspected this, because I have a bad habit of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects (especially when they refuse to operate the way I want them to), but now it’s confirmed. How do I know? How can I be so sure? It’s this- my phone calls people without my knowing it. I think somehow I lean up against things while I’m working, with my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, and somehow the phone manages to unlock itself (it’s one of those Sony Ericsons that doesn’t flip open), go to the recent calls menu and hit redial. Once it even unlocked, went to the main menu, scrolled over to the address book, scrolled down in the address book, and called someone I haven’t talked to in years (Greg). I don’t know if that was even still his phone number…hopefully if he did answer (he never called back, but it did happen twice) he wasn’t too weirded out. My phone has also called Marli and Jordan. Annoying!
I just finished listening to “Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiman on cd. It was pretty great. Clean and funny. The narrator was excellent- I think the book was better in audio format than it could have been in text. I keep meaning to do some reviews and write some thoughts on the other books I listened to- namely, “The Reluctant Mr. Darwin”, but I can’t seem to get there. Maybe that’s ok- a lot of it would be lamentations over the science vs. religion stuff. But I did get what I was looking for from that book: 1) Darwin was not a Christian, he was agnostic. 2) Mrs. Darwin was a Christian 3) a lot of scientists of that time, and now too, of course, had a totally distorted view of God. Ok, fine, I have to elaborate.
1) Darwin had been Christian/“religious”/Unitarian. The author actually kind of contradicted himself with this one, saying both that Darwin had been non-religious from the start, being of Unitarian background. He also stated that Darwin had been known at University for his Bible-quoting ways. Um? Well, at any rate, he became agnostic over the course of several decades, so slowly, claims the author, that the loss of his (supposed) love for God didn’t shock or worry him. That actually sounds incredibly shocking and scary to me…anyway, he came to disbelieve because of several things. First, he couldn’t get over why there was evil in the world and how a benevolent God could “allow” bad things to happen to “good” people. This stumbling block kind of confuses me, if the Bible-quoting Darwin is an accurate portrait of his early religious convictions. I mean, we deal with this issue in like, the first five chapters of the Bible. Second, why would a “busy” God spend his precious time creating, in this case, tiny variations in barnacles? Surely He has better things to do, right? Hmmm…as if creating makes God tired. As if God isn’t infinitely more creative and efficient than we can possibly imagine. What seemed so odd to me is that Darwin spent eight years of his life meticulously (obsessively?) studying a few varieties of barnacles. Eight years. Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time? Third- I forget if this was actually one of Darwin’s musings or just that of the author, he wonders how a good God could create something like a cat, which appears to torture and kill tiny helpless animals for fun. How could He create something so cruel? Again, we go back to the first few chapters of the Bible and discover that, when mankind sinned and fell, so did nature. I’m sure the time will come when the lion will lay down with the lamb instead of devouring it, when the child will put its hand in the viper’s nest and it will not strike, and when the mouse and cat will frolic and play in the meadow instead of the cat dismembering and eating all of the mouse but its ears. But for now, all these things are in enmity with one another.
2) Darwin’s wife was also his cousin. They loved each other very much, and Charles was able to share his doubts with her. It troubled her greatly, and she told him so, but to no avail. Other than this, though, I thought it was cool how devoted to each other they seemed.
3) The distorted view of God goes mainly back to the one or two things mentioned under “1)”. It suggests, unfortunately and also not surprisingly, that scientists who dismiss the idea of a creative God (not even just creationism) have never even tried to read the Bible. It’s true that the Bible is not a scientific text book, but I do think it can and should be taken as accurate. Even in the way it describes the formation of the world. I do think that God made, in the space of six days, all that we see. I do not necessarily believe that He created, one by one and at that time, every variety of finch and barnacle that Darwin studied. I think it would be within God’s wisdom and creativity, for Him to create all creatures with the ability to adapt. Otherwise, they wouldn’t really be very good creations. God also told all the living things to be fruitful and multiply, and so to help them do that, He put in them the ability to adapt to their environments, wherever they went. Maybe He also knew that these humans of His would start seriously messing up the planet, and that, along with natural worldwide climate changes, would necessitate all things having the ability to change.
Ok, I feel a tad awkward about writing this next part- but I really don’t think I should feel that way, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to go ahead and write it. (Hi, I’m Kristin and I’m over-analytical.) Bart and I went out for our third anniversary of dating (!) to this cool Brazilian place in Old Town. He gave me flowers when he picked me up :) Anyway, the food was pretty awesome, and it was a lot of fun guessing what different things were on the menu. We’re inspired now to try some Brazilian cooking. After dinner we walked around the uber-preppy streets, lined with shops meant for rich white people and, to keep you firmly grounded in reality, a few homeless people as well. One of them was selling some really, really cool drawings of his on a blanket next to where he sat. We browsed “Sur la Table”, which was jam-packed with all sorts of awesome, shiny cooking things, and then went next door to this artsy paper goods place. I can’t remember the name due to being distracted by the intense glow radiating from this shop, and the loud chorus of angelic singing emanating from all around me. Papersource, maybe? It had quite a selection of really, really pretty art paper with printed designs all over it. I don’t know exactly what this paper is called, but I should look it up online and try and buy some cheaper than the $6-15 per sheet that they cost in most stores. Or…I should just make my own. :)
After driving back to Bart’s house (hooray Jordan for letting us borrow his car!!), we watched Brian Regan’s “Standing Up” with Bart’s housemates. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t care how you get ahold of a copy of this performance, but you need to. And you need to do it now. It was brilliant.
Wow, this is getting long….time to go, then :)
All last week I worked on a project that turned out extremely well, if I do say so myself :) I will post pictures on Friday, hopefully, when it will be “safe” to do so. I’ll also tell you all about the process, because a lot was involved to get it to its finished state.
My mum mailed me a bunch of cards I’d done a couple weeks ago and that she found hanging out at home in NY. On Saturday I photographed all of them in six or seven sets for selling them on etsy. I’ve read on the forums that it’s ideal to list once or twice a day, rather than all at once, because it keeps you at the top of the search lists and, therefore, people are more likely to see and click on your item. The default way of listing search results is by date listed, and since people list thousands and thousands of things every day, one’s products can quickly fall to page 358 in the search results. I also typed up some info for each set on Saturday, so that for the past couple of days, real quick in the morning and in the evening, I can fill out the forms for listing and get in one or two new items a day. It’s worked- I’ve gotten more views on those items, and a few more views in my shop in general (though the view counters are constantly resetting- arg), than I’d been getting before this week. Huzzah!
My cell phone has a mind of its own. I’ve always sort of suspected this, because I have a bad habit of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects (especially when they refuse to operate the way I want them to), but now it’s confirmed. How do I know? How can I be so sure? It’s this- my phone calls people without my knowing it. I think somehow I lean up against things while I’m working, with my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, and somehow the phone manages to unlock itself (it’s one of those Sony Ericsons that doesn’t flip open), go to the recent calls menu and hit redial. Once it even unlocked, went to the main menu, scrolled over to the address book, scrolled down in the address book, and called someone I haven’t talked to in years (Greg). I don’t know if that was even still his phone number…hopefully if he did answer (he never called back, but it did happen twice) he wasn’t too weirded out. My phone has also called Marli and Jordan. Annoying!
I just finished listening to “Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiman on cd. It was pretty great. Clean and funny. The narrator was excellent- I think the book was better in audio format than it could have been in text. I keep meaning to do some reviews and write some thoughts on the other books I listened to- namely, “The Reluctant Mr. Darwin”, but I can’t seem to get there. Maybe that’s ok- a lot of it would be lamentations over the science vs. religion stuff. But I did get what I was looking for from that book: 1) Darwin was not a Christian, he was agnostic. 2) Mrs. Darwin was a Christian 3) a lot of scientists of that time, and now too, of course, had a totally distorted view of God. Ok, fine, I have to elaborate.
1) Darwin had been Christian/“religious”/Unitarian. The author actually kind of contradicted himself with this one, saying both that Darwin had been non-religious from the start, being of Unitarian background. He also stated that Darwin had been known at University for his Bible-quoting ways. Um? Well, at any rate, he became agnostic over the course of several decades, so slowly, claims the author, that the loss of his (supposed) love for God didn’t shock or worry him. That actually sounds incredibly shocking and scary to me…anyway, he came to disbelieve because of several things. First, he couldn’t get over why there was evil in the world and how a benevolent God could “allow” bad things to happen to “good” people. This stumbling block kind of confuses me, if the Bible-quoting Darwin is an accurate portrait of his early religious convictions. I mean, we deal with this issue in like, the first five chapters of the Bible. Second, why would a “busy” God spend his precious time creating, in this case, tiny variations in barnacles? Surely He has better things to do, right? Hmmm…as if creating makes God tired. As if God isn’t infinitely more creative and efficient than we can possibly imagine. What seemed so odd to me is that Darwin spent eight years of his life meticulously (obsessively?) studying a few varieties of barnacles. Eight years. Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time? Third- I forget if this was actually one of Darwin’s musings or just that of the author, he wonders how a good God could create something like a cat, which appears to torture and kill tiny helpless animals for fun. How could He create something so cruel? Again, we go back to the first few chapters of the Bible and discover that, when mankind sinned and fell, so did nature. I’m sure the time will come when the lion will lay down with the lamb instead of devouring it, when the child will put its hand in the viper’s nest and it will not strike, and when the mouse and cat will frolic and play in the meadow instead of the cat dismembering and eating all of the mouse but its ears. But for now, all these things are in enmity with one another.
2) Darwin’s wife was also his cousin. They loved each other very much, and Charles was able to share his doubts with her. It troubled her greatly, and she told him so, but to no avail. Other than this, though, I thought it was cool how devoted to each other they seemed.
3) The distorted view of God goes mainly back to the one or two things mentioned under “1)”. It suggests, unfortunately and also not surprisingly, that scientists who dismiss the idea of a creative God (not even just creationism) have never even tried to read the Bible. It’s true that the Bible is not a scientific text book, but I do think it can and should be taken as accurate. Even in the way it describes the formation of the world. I do think that God made, in the space of six days, all that we see. I do not necessarily believe that He created, one by one and at that time, every variety of finch and barnacle that Darwin studied. I think it would be within God’s wisdom and creativity, for Him to create all creatures with the ability to adapt. Otherwise, they wouldn’t really be very good creations. God also told all the living things to be fruitful and multiply, and so to help them do that, He put in them the ability to adapt to their environments, wherever they went. Maybe He also knew that these humans of His would start seriously messing up the planet, and that, along with natural worldwide climate changes, would necessitate all things having the ability to change.
Ok, I feel a tad awkward about writing this next part- but I really don’t think I should feel that way, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to go ahead and write it. (Hi, I’m Kristin and I’m over-analytical.) Bart and I went out for our third anniversary of dating (!) to this cool Brazilian place in Old Town. He gave me flowers when he picked me up :) Anyway, the food was pretty awesome, and it was a lot of fun guessing what different things were on the menu. We’re inspired now to try some Brazilian cooking. After dinner we walked around the uber-preppy streets, lined with shops meant for rich white people and, to keep you firmly grounded in reality, a few homeless people as well. One of them was selling some really, really cool drawings of his on a blanket next to where he sat. We browsed “Sur la Table”, which was jam-packed with all sorts of awesome, shiny cooking things, and then went next door to this artsy paper goods place. I can’t remember the name due to being distracted by the intense glow radiating from this shop, and the loud chorus of angelic singing emanating from all around me. Papersource, maybe? It had quite a selection of really, really pretty art paper with printed designs all over it. I don’t know exactly what this paper is called, but I should look it up online and try and buy some cheaper than the $6-15 per sheet that they cost in most stores. Or…I should just make my own. :)
After driving back to Bart’s house (hooray Jordan for letting us borrow his car!!), we watched Brian Regan’s “Standing Up” with Bart’s housemates. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t care how you get ahold of a copy of this performance, but you need to. And you need to do it now. It was brilliant.
Wow, this is getting long….time to go, then :)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Various and Sundry
Bloggin’ time, I guess!
Well, the first and most obvious thing for me to type is that soynuts are disgusting. I’m eating a small bowl of salted soynuts with salted pistachios (the key ingredient here being salt, for reasons you’ll soon find out), but I can’t stomach them. At least, my tastebuds won’t let them get that far along the digestive track.
I’m eating salty stuff because I woke up this morning feeling queasy. This happens fairly regularly, because I usually wake up feeling anxious to start my day (I know, I know- that’s a problem), but this time I wasn’t sure if the tummy ache was caused by anxiety, or if I was actually feeling yucky, and as a result was feeling anxious, which, yes, made my tummy worse, which makes me worry more…anyway, last time I felt queasy for no apparent reason, things got pretty bad, pretty fast (someday I’ll write a really long blogpost about that). But this isn’t nearly as bad as that was- I went to the farmer’s market, etc., with mild (by comparison) discomfort. So now, in case I’m low on electrolytes or something, I am consuming salt. Oh, also, my appetite is nonexistent, which is very strange, and I’ve had a little bit of acid reflux going on. I feel particularly grossed out by sweet things. I made oatmeal without sweetening it, but added some raisins just to include fruit. I didn’t get much of the oatmeal down, partly because I couldn’t handle the taste of the raisins. The tea I had was good, though- two bags of green tea in a cup- it was warm, strong, bitter, and definitely not sweet. Last time I was queasy without cause (well, there definitely was a reason, it just wasn’t anxiety the way it usually is), I had zero appetite and drinking fluids was a chore that exhausted me (and therefore I did not consume them, a choice that I later regretted).
Let’s see, I had a few things to write about, other than that essay on poor Kristin’s tum-tum.
1) I finished another small journal and it will go up for sale on etsy soon. I still have to photograph it and do all the things necessary for making up a new-item posting. I like this little guy- it’d been waiting forever for me to get inspired for the drawing on the front cover, and then I came thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to totally screwing it up. Sigh. But then it was salvaged! Hooray!
2) Rain. Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. Stop. I don’t recall 24+-hour constant rainfall in SoCal in May. Late October or January, maybe, but not May. I heard they had hail and even tornadoes in some places. There were mudslides in Sierra Madre, but those were contained to the areas south of where the fires had been. Since mudslides (unlike fire) can’t spread, my house was completely safe. Oh, and afternoon temperatures were in the 40s!
3) I’m working on two books along with the commissioned drawings. One of them I don’t want to say much about yet, but the other will be a blank book using some bookcloth that I painted. It’s pretty! I’m really excited. Depending on how it turns out, it would be cool do add that as a “product line” to etsy. Very unique. Yes!
4) This other book project, if I can actually be patient enough to work it through, will be pretty sweet, man.
5) I got a paycheck for working at Scripps the other day- now I can afford to buy new shoes!! Here’re the ones I’m thinking (and since I’m going to order from zappos.com, I don’t have to worry about paying shipping to return them if they don’t fit): http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/38567896/c/3.html and http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/27074761/c/1463/g/women/s/6.html#reviews
I’m just worried that the first ones will be too wide, or that they’ll get too wide after I’m walked 3000 miles in them (you know, after like, three months). I have narrow footses, so the customer reviews aren’t too encouraging.
6) I want to try getting into shows at local art galleries. While doing a bit of research for that, I came across this artist’s portfolio. http://www.susannehayekphotography.com/Portfolio.html She photographs real estate, and you can take virtual tours of these homes she’s photographed. I like touring homes, and these are some faaaaaaaancy homes, like whoa. :) The first one (1239 Palm) made my jaw drop. At a paltry $2 million, I’m sure it’s a steal.
7) In an effort to get to know people/be a part of the community on etsy, I’ve started editing peoples profiles and shop announcements. I think this is actually a bad idea- nobody loves a grammar/spelling nazi, but they must appreciate the constructive criticism. Looking like an idiot in a setting where you want to be taken seriously -your own business- probably won’t help your business. One person I notified (and I’ve only notified two people) had “we except paypal…”. I alerted them to this error, but then when I checked back later, they had mis-corrected it with “eaccept”. D’oh! Unfortunately, I think it would be too awkward to notify them of this second error. Hopefully they’ll catch it on their own.
Well, I’m sure I could invent more things to ramble on about, but this should tide you over until the next post. So long, and happy long weekend!
Well, the first and most obvious thing for me to type is that soynuts are disgusting. I’m eating a small bowl of salted soynuts with salted pistachios (the key ingredient here being salt, for reasons you’ll soon find out), but I can’t stomach them. At least, my tastebuds won’t let them get that far along the digestive track.
I’m eating salty stuff because I woke up this morning feeling queasy. This happens fairly regularly, because I usually wake up feeling anxious to start my day (I know, I know- that’s a problem), but this time I wasn’t sure if the tummy ache was caused by anxiety, or if I was actually feeling yucky, and as a result was feeling anxious, which, yes, made my tummy worse, which makes me worry more…anyway, last time I felt queasy for no apparent reason, things got pretty bad, pretty fast (someday I’ll write a really long blogpost about that). But this isn’t nearly as bad as that was- I went to the farmer’s market, etc., with mild (by comparison) discomfort. So now, in case I’m low on electrolytes or something, I am consuming salt. Oh, also, my appetite is nonexistent, which is very strange, and I’ve had a little bit of acid reflux going on. I feel particularly grossed out by sweet things. I made oatmeal without sweetening it, but added some raisins just to include fruit. I didn’t get much of the oatmeal down, partly because I couldn’t handle the taste of the raisins. The tea I had was good, though- two bags of green tea in a cup- it was warm, strong, bitter, and definitely not sweet. Last time I was queasy without cause (well, there definitely was a reason, it just wasn’t anxiety the way it usually is), I had zero appetite and drinking fluids was a chore that exhausted me (and therefore I did not consume them, a choice that I later regretted).
Let’s see, I had a few things to write about, other than that essay on poor Kristin’s tum-tum.
1) I finished another small journal and it will go up for sale on etsy soon. I still have to photograph it and do all the things necessary for making up a new-item posting. I like this little guy- it’d been waiting forever for me to get inspired for the drawing on the front cover, and then I came thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to totally screwing it up. Sigh. But then it was salvaged! Hooray!
2) Rain. Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. Stop. I don’t recall 24+-hour constant rainfall in SoCal in May. Late October or January, maybe, but not May. I heard they had hail and even tornadoes in some places. There were mudslides in Sierra Madre, but those were contained to the areas south of where the fires had been. Since mudslides (unlike fire) can’t spread, my house was completely safe. Oh, and afternoon temperatures were in the 40s!
3) I’m working on two books along with the commissioned drawings. One of them I don’t want to say much about yet, but the other will be a blank book using some bookcloth that I painted. It’s pretty! I’m really excited. Depending on how it turns out, it would be cool do add that as a “product line” to etsy. Very unique. Yes!
4) This other book project, if I can actually be patient enough to work it through, will be pretty sweet, man.
5) I got a paycheck for working at Scripps the other day- now I can afford to buy new shoes!! Here’re the ones I’m thinking (and since I’m going to order from zappos.com, I don’t have to worry about paying shipping to return them if they don’t fit): http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/38567896/c/3.html and http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/27074761/c/1463/g/women/s/6.html#reviews
I’m just worried that the first ones will be too wide, or that they’ll get too wide after I’m walked 3000 miles in them (you know, after like, three months). I have narrow footses, so the customer reviews aren’t too encouraging.
6) I want to try getting into shows at local art galleries. While doing a bit of research for that, I came across this artist’s portfolio. http://www.susannehayekphotography.com/Portfolio.html She photographs real estate, and you can take virtual tours of these homes she’s photographed. I like touring homes, and these are some faaaaaaaancy homes, like whoa. :) The first one (1239 Palm) made my jaw drop. At a paltry $2 million, I’m sure it’s a steal.
7) In an effort to get to know people/be a part of the community on etsy, I’ve started editing peoples profiles and shop announcements. I think this is actually a bad idea- nobody loves a grammar/spelling nazi, but they must appreciate the constructive criticism. Looking like an idiot in a setting where you want to be taken seriously -your own business- probably won’t help your business. One person I notified (and I’ve only notified two people) had “we except paypal…”. I alerted them to this error, but then when I checked back later, they had mis-corrected it with “eaccept”. D’oh! Unfortunately, I think it would be too awkward to notify them of this second error. Hopefully they’ll catch it on their own.
Well, I’m sure I could invent more things to ramble on about, but this should tide you over until the next post. So long, and happy long weekend!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sheesh. Weeks go by so quickly! (And more complaints)
Today the laborers labored in vain. At least, in the afternoon. Productivity hit a wall at approximately 2pm, and frustration ensued. The wall-hitting is partially my fault, and partially the result of an unforeseen event which has prevented me from progressing on a fairly labor-intensive drawing. I’m also very tired, and antsy. Luckily, I’m getting out of here for the evening- heading off to catch the bus in approximately one hour, and then I hope to shed this shell of blarg.
Blogging, fortunately, is always productive (even if I just hold down one letter’s key, in only a few short minutes, I’ll have pages and pages of text!), and I even get the added benefit of forcing you all to listen to me as I whine! No, I would not like some cheese with my whine- I like my whine pure and undiluted.
So. Graduation was this weekend at the Claremont Colleges; I went out to attend Mudd’s and Scripps’ with friends. It was stiflingly hot, but I got to see Bill Nye (yeah! The Science Guy!)…I mean, William Nye (“Science Educator”) speak at Harvey Mudd’s commencement. I ate cookies for lunch, languished in the heat, saw people I haven’t seen in a year (practically a lifetime), didn’t drink enough water and generally enjoyed myself greatly. Dinner was wonderful, and was shared with exactly zero graduates, though we dined in Claremont. Should’ve tried Bombay Bistro last year as a post-graduation place of feasting, eh?…oh well. I have no regrets :)
It is very quiet here in my room. I can’t hear the sounds of outside because the windows are closed, due to the fact that the air-conditioning is blasting. I’m wearing a sweatshirt, and looking forward to having air-conditioning for the first time in my five years in SoCal.
Blah. Note to brain: SNAP OUT OF IT.
Unfortunately, I have nothing for it to snap into. Nothing that’s easy, that doesn’t take any work. Ah well, today will be over eventually and tomorrow things will be different. Huzzah for that.
Blogging, fortunately, is always productive (even if I just hold down one letter’s key, in only a few short minutes, I’ll have pages and pages of text!), and I even get the added benefit of forcing you all to listen to me as I whine! No, I would not like some cheese with my whine- I like my whine pure and undiluted.
So. Graduation was this weekend at the Claremont Colleges; I went out to attend Mudd’s and Scripps’ with friends. It was stiflingly hot, but I got to see Bill Nye (yeah! The Science Guy!)…I mean, William Nye (“Science Educator”) speak at Harvey Mudd’s commencement. I ate cookies for lunch, languished in the heat, saw people I haven’t seen in a year (practically a lifetime), didn’t drink enough water and generally enjoyed myself greatly. Dinner was wonderful, and was shared with exactly zero graduates, though we dined in Claremont. Should’ve tried Bombay Bistro last year as a post-graduation place of feasting, eh?…oh well. I have no regrets :)
It is very quiet here in my room. I can’t hear the sounds of outside because the windows are closed, due to the fact that the air-conditioning is blasting. I’m wearing a sweatshirt, and looking forward to having air-conditioning for the first time in my five years in SoCal.
Blah. Note to brain: SNAP OUT OF IT.
Unfortunately, I have nothing for it to snap into. Nothing that’s easy, that doesn’t take any work. Ah well, today will be over eventually and tomorrow things will be different. Huzzah for that.
Monday, May 12, 2008
OhblargFINALLY
At last, prints of some of my work are available on Etsy. I have been kicking myself in the bum about this for weeks, so it's nice to have it partially off my shoulders. Only about half of the prints I have are currently for sale because it's so cloudy outside that I can't even take mediocre pictures of them. By next weekend I hope to have more prints available, as well as more in stock of each (ideally I'd have 5-10 in stock for each print). Needless to say, but still worth saying, the prints look a billion times better in "real life" than as a digital image of a photograph taken on a cloudy day. Sigh. That said, if you think the photos I have posted look terrible, please let me know and I'll rephotograph them (sigh).
So, another reason I love SoCal: food, food everywhere. FREE food. Fresh, free, organic food. These nice little communities I’ve been lucky enough to live in out here are packed with trees, especially fruit trees- avocados (can’t say I care much for those, but still), plums, apricots, oranges, lemons, limes, pomellos and grapefruits (don’t care much for those, either), grapes (not actually trees), peaches, loquats, kumquats, apples…am I forgetting anything? At any rate, that’s a lot of fruit, and thanks to a little Roman law that has managed to persist into the present era in this nation, if any of those fruit trees extend over onto sidewalks or other public spaces from the lawns where they’ve been planted, anyone is allowed to pick from that section of the tree!
Also, a revision to my last post. Mr. Nick pointed out fairly brilliantly and clairvoyantly that classical music is a lot better to have stuck in your head than pretty much all of the other crap you hear on the radio. SO TRUE. When I was working last week, some students had cds of Madonna, Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, and some other things playing while they worked. I had awful, old Madonna songs stuck in my head for days, and if I’m not really careful, I’ll get them stuck in my head again right now just thinking about how terrible that was. So I am officially changing my view on this topic- if it’s really necessary for me to have some kind of music stuck in my head, I would definitely prefer that music to be of the classical variety.
So, another reason I love SoCal: food, food everywhere. FREE food. Fresh, free, organic food. These nice little communities I’ve been lucky enough to live in out here are packed with trees, especially fruit trees- avocados (can’t say I care much for those, but still), plums, apricots, oranges, lemons, limes, pomellos and grapefruits (don’t care much for those, either), grapes (not actually trees), peaches, loquats, kumquats, apples…am I forgetting anything? At any rate, that’s a lot of fruit, and thanks to a little Roman law that has managed to persist into the present era in this nation, if any of those fruit trees extend over onto sidewalks or other public spaces from the lawns where they’ve been planted, anyone is allowed to pick from that section of the tree!
Also, a revision to my last post. Mr. Nick pointed out fairly brilliantly and clairvoyantly that classical music is a lot better to have stuck in your head than pretty much all of the other crap you hear on the radio. SO TRUE. When I was working last week, some students had cds of Madonna, Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, and some other things playing while they worked. I had awful, old Madonna songs stuck in my head for days, and if I’m not really careful, I’ll get them stuck in my head again right now just thinking about how terrible that was. So I am officially changing my view on this topic- if it’s really necessary for me to have some kind of music stuck in my head, I would definitely prefer that music to be of the classical variety.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
A few observations
1) Listening to classical music while working all day can be great, but when that music stops, and, say, I'm trying to go to sleep, I'll have classical music stuck in my head. Not actual, existing classical music, however, just sort of generic classical music that my head makes up. It usually features string instruments, it's usually baroque, and it's usually prestissimo. Try falling asleep to that.
2) Every time I hear helicopters now (which are common in LA), I think of fire. They were flying low around the foothills constantly last week during the fire (obviously). Helicopters are kind of like vultures - they're usually looking for sites of disaster, runaway criminals, tracking wildfires, etc., (they're much more helpful than the scavenging birds, of course).
3) Going to Claremont for the day means I can sneak away to not one but TWO dollar stores (of different chains, with, therefore, different merchandise) in the morning before starting work. Awesome healthy bread, vanilla soymilk, plain soymilk, large bags of whole wheat pasta (2 for a dollar!), V8, fat-free Colombo yogurt, some cool energy bars- 3 for a dollar (including some that I've seen at Whole Foods. So what if these are maybe a little old and got a tiny bit squashed?), and on, and on. I love the dollar store, I do, I do.
4) It does not feel like it's been a year since my senior art show. But apparently it has been, because the 2008 senior show opened last night. It was a pretty good show! The work was technically stunning- a lot of talent in that class. The gallery was also very full of work. Last year, each person had pretty much one piece to present, and they were all fairly small and self-contained. This year, each artist had a couple or several pieces. Conceptually, I don't know. The major disappointment was that the artists weren't standing next to their pieces, as we had been commanded to do last year. I knew only one of the girls in the show, and her work was pretty straight-forward, so tracking the artists down was pretty much impossible, too. One girl gave her audience pretty much nothing, not even a title. There seemed to be a lot going on in the work; and since I didn't get most of it on my own, it would have been nice to get some help from the experts. Argh. Now I'm really frustrated. Anyway, there were a few that were hard to follow. Several used text (there were two graphic novels and another piece was in the format of a single comic strip), but I often found myself confused, either with the sequence of events or the dialogue, or with the illustrations. If the artists had been standing with their work, I would have been able to get these things (and many more) figured out. But as it is, work that might be very strong to those who are familiar with all its various aspects, may now be viewed as weak by those who weren't allowed access to that same information. And it's not like we can look up the work online, either. Bummer. The next best thing would be to track down all their theses...Hmm...tempting. Sort of.
Well, I am now going to go rummage at a rummage sale down the street. Yippee!
2) Every time I hear helicopters now (which are common in LA), I think of fire. They were flying low around the foothills constantly last week during the fire (obviously). Helicopters are kind of like vultures - they're usually looking for sites of disaster, runaway criminals, tracking wildfires, etc., (they're much more helpful than the scavenging birds, of course).
3) Going to Claremont for the day means I can sneak away to not one but TWO dollar stores (of different chains, with, therefore, different merchandise) in the morning before starting work. Awesome healthy bread, vanilla soymilk, plain soymilk, large bags of whole wheat pasta (2 for a dollar!), V8, fat-free Colombo yogurt, some cool energy bars- 3 for a dollar (including some that I've seen at Whole Foods. So what if these are maybe a little old and got a tiny bit squashed?), and on, and on. I love the dollar store, I do, I do.
4) It does not feel like it's been a year since my senior art show. But apparently it has been, because the 2008 senior show opened last night. It was a pretty good show! The work was technically stunning- a lot of talent in that class. The gallery was also very full of work. Last year, each person had pretty much one piece to present, and they were all fairly small and self-contained. This year, each artist had a couple or several pieces. Conceptually, I don't know. The major disappointment was that the artists weren't standing next to their pieces, as we had been commanded to do last year. I knew only one of the girls in the show, and her work was pretty straight-forward, so tracking the artists down was pretty much impossible, too. One girl gave her audience pretty much nothing, not even a title. There seemed to be a lot going on in the work; and since I didn't get most of it on my own, it would have been nice to get some help from the experts. Argh. Now I'm really frustrated. Anyway, there were a few that were hard to follow. Several used text (there were two graphic novels and another piece was in the format of a single comic strip), but I often found myself confused, either with the sequence of events or the dialogue, or with the illustrations. If the artists had been standing with their work, I would have been able to get these things (and many more) figured out. But as it is, work that might be very strong to those who are familiar with all its various aspects, may now be viewed as weak by those who weren't allowed access to that same information. And it's not like we can look up the work online, either. Bummer. The next best thing would be to track down all their theses...Hmm...tempting. Sort of.
Well, I am now going to go rummage at a rummage sale down the street. Yippee!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
...May 1st?!
Wowies. Long time no post. Please accept my most humble apologies! A lot has been going on. A LOT.
First, my house almost burned down. A fire was started about two or three miles away, north in the wilderness area in the foothills, on Saturday afternoon. It’s since burned about 600 acres, I think, but miraculously, no houses burned (many were evacuated, like mine), and the fire started going north instead of any other of the cardinal directions on about Tuesday. This took it far away from civilization; a huuuuge blessing. Also, to my knowledge, none of the firefighters have been seriously injured in this ordeal, though one did get stung by a bee. And to add yet another blessing and relief, the weather has been perfect- no wind, though it was very warm the first couple of days, and then yesterday and today have been very cool and humid. All of this is a big deal- the foothills where it started are steep and rugged, and hasn’t burned in forty years. It could have been disastrous, and nearly was, but God kept us well guarded.
Next up:
Commissions! I currently have several commissioned art-things in the works! This is exciting and makes me happy. I hope I can find time soon to work on them…
Work! Pretty much my favorite professor at Scripps has hired me for a short period to help her class (Typography and the Book Arts) finish the semester’s work. This is my third year working for her (I worked for her during the summers of 2006 and 2007), and the third time her offer has really been a life-saver. She’s even bumped my pay rate up 25% from last summer (which was about a 25% bump up from the summer before that!) :) The work can be tedious and exhausting, but…I kinda like stuff like that. And it’s fun to work with cool materials, help out, see what the students have been working on, and take peeks at the book they’ve put together (and from my own experience in that class, it takes a stupefying amount of work). Professor Maryatt is herself a treat, and being a well-known figure in the art/book arts world, it’s a huge honor to work for her and learn from her. She has connections EVERYWHERE, and never hesitates to do things for her students. Also, she’s buddies with/does work for Ed Ruscha—he’s like, seriously, a famous artist.
Coming soon…art prints! Hand-painted fabric!
I’ve just ordered some paper from Mohawk papers, and I plan to have a few of my originals made into prints, which I will then put on Etsy. It’ll be a good way to sell artwork for less, without having to sell originals and/or pay myself ten cents an hour to make “cheap” enough artwork. I’ve also ordered some fabric paint, which I will use to make awesomely printed/painted fabric! Textile design is super cool, but I can’t afford to do it commercially. So I’ll just have to do it myself.
Books on cd. The greatest invention ever. I loved The Return of the King. The middle-aged British dude narrating really got into the voices and sang the couple of songs Tolkein wrote with gusto. This book, which I had started reading at least six times before giving up after the first couple chapters, is so much better in an audio format. Listening to it was also an excellent escape for parts of my brain that would get bored with a lot of drawing, and it was an excellent escape in general, because it allowed me to forget about my troubles for a bit. :) Since the Tolkein, I’ve listened to Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour, which was fun but frivolous and completely pointless. I just started listening to The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, which I don’t really like so far (I’m not sure if it’s the narrator’s voice or what). Oh, and I found an awesome, free online resource for anyone if you want to try out audio books- librvox.org. It’s got a LOT of classics, because most of the classics are in the public domain (hence, free) and nice volunteers come and read them. I’ve started listening to Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift, which is read by a youngish-sounding British woman, so that’s a little weird, but so far the story is pretty good! Yay audiobooks!
That’s all for now. Hopefully this was somewhat coherent. after staring intently at various things all day long, my eyes keep wanting to go out of focus…not to mention my brain. My brain definitely wants to go out of focus. Whatever that means. See? Time to stop writing before I hurt myself.
First, my house almost burned down. A fire was started about two or three miles away, north in the wilderness area in the foothills, on Saturday afternoon. It’s since burned about 600 acres, I think, but miraculously, no houses burned (many were evacuated, like mine), and the fire started going north instead of any other of the cardinal directions on about Tuesday. This took it far away from civilization; a huuuuge blessing. Also, to my knowledge, none of the firefighters have been seriously injured in this ordeal, though one did get stung by a bee. And to add yet another blessing and relief, the weather has been perfect- no wind, though it was very warm the first couple of days, and then yesterday and today have been very cool and humid. All of this is a big deal- the foothills where it started are steep and rugged, and hasn’t burned in forty years. It could have been disastrous, and nearly was, but God kept us well guarded.
Next up:
Commissions! I currently have several commissioned art-things in the works! This is exciting and makes me happy. I hope I can find time soon to work on them…
Work! Pretty much my favorite professor at Scripps has hired me for a short period to help her class (Typography and the Book Arts) finish the semester’s work. This is my third year working for her (I worked for her during the summers of 2006 and 2007), and the third time her offer has really been a life-saver. She’s even bumped my pay rate up 25% from last summer (which was about a 25% bump up from the summer before that!) :) The work can be tedious and exhausting, but…I kinda like stuff like that. And it’s fun to work with cool materials, help out, see what the students have been working on, and take peeks at the book they’ve put together (and from my own experience in that class, it takes a stupefying amount of work). Professor Maryatt is herself a treat, and being a well-known figure in the art/book arts world, it’s a huge honor to work for her and learn from her. She has connections EVERYWHERE, and never hesitates to do things for her students. Also, she’s buddies with/does work for Ed Ruscha—he’s like, seriously, a famous artist.
Coming soon…art prints! Hand-painted fabric!
I’ve just ordered some paper from Mohawk papers, and I plan to have a few of my originals made into prints, which I will then put on Etsy. It’ll be a good way to sell artwork for less, without having to sell originals and/or pay myself ten cents an hour to make “cheap” enough artwork. I’ve also ordered some fabric paint, which I will use to make awesomely printed/painted fabric! Textile design is super cool, but I can’t afford to do it commercially. So I’ll just have to do it myself.
Books on cd. The greatest invention ever. I loved The Return of the King. The middle-aged British dude narrating really got into the voices and sang the couple of songs Tolkein wrote with gusto. This book, which I had started reading at least six times before giving up after the first couple chapters, is so much better in an audio format. Listening to it was also an excellent escape for parts of my brain that would get bored with a lot of drawing, and it was an excellent escape in general, because it allowed me to forget about my troubles for a bit. :) Since the Tolkein, I’ve listened to Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour, which was fun but frivolous and completely pointless. I just started listening to The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, which I don’t really like so far (I’m not sure if it’s the narrator’s voice or what). Oh, and I found an awesome, free online resource for anyone if you want to try out audio books- librvox.org. It’s got a LOT of classics, because most of the classics are in the public domain (hence, free) and nice volunteers come and read them. I’ve started listening to Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift, which is read by a youngish-sounding British woman, so that’s a little weird, but so far the story is pretty good! Yay audiobooks!
That’s all for now. Hopefully this was somewhat coherent. after staring intently at various things all day long, my eyes keep wanting to go out of focus…not to mention my brain. My brain definitely wants to go out of focus. Whatever that means. See? Time to stop writing before I hurt myself.
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