Picasso?

or Henchio?
This is my Picasso themed representation of Hench genetically engineering Gael Garcia Bernal and skater Marc in flasks from the oceanography lab.
Hope you like!
L

Trust Exercises

A million (7) years ago I was a counselor at a youth camp in the woods of Millboro.
It was one of those cabin type sleep away Camps like the ones you see in the Parent Trap. Here girls’ ages ranging from age 8-13 lived in a cabin for a week with older 19-21 year old counselors.

The financial range was split right down the middle. Since it was sponsored by the Elks lodge, my girls’ financial background was split 50/50. Half of them were rich children sent away to give their wealthy parents a week long summer break. Spoiled mini-Paris’s who would cry about missing TV, soda, and sedentary lifestyles. The other half were not at all spoiled, sent to be spared a week of the stresses that plagued them in the real world. No parents, foster parents, or ailing parents just food, sunlight, and fun. Happy to eat cheese crackers and drink Kool-Aid until the cows came home.

I am a bit of a cynic, I’m definitely not depressed, I just refuse to wear the rainbow glasses that others seemed to be handed at birth. I’m literal. I think this view helped me fit in with these girls for my four-week stay.

I’m not a teacher, or a childcare expert. But I think, children respect honesty even in its most blunt of forms. And too understand some of my girls, you have to understand that some had already begun to take off their rainbow glasses and shook off the tinkerbell powder already.

Our head counselor Kara often separated our girls into age groups for activities so they could befriend other like minded girls and be athletic and social for a few hours of the day. We had teamwork builders, physical activites, and my favorite TRUST builders.

Trust time was Kara’s pet activity. At this particular time, I think Kara fought to get the companionship from children that she could not find in her adult counter parts.

Here is how trust time went:

The counselors and their respective groups would gather in front of a 3 ft tree stump. Kara would select a lucky contestant at random (I say at random tentatively, her ass would pick the smallest girl in the groups) to stand atop the stump with her back facing the group. Kara then would dispatch us into two lines. Usually with counselors in the middle – that way should the other girls faulter; the counselors (with their canary-like arm strength) could catch the brunt.

With everyone in place, The shutzpah came –
“ I have done this thousands of times, Girls. Before we can be friends we must learn to trust each other. Now, just let yourself fall………”
Then the Midget would fall backwards and the group would catch her. The girls would marvel at their own strength and then volunteer to fall off the log and be caught. Time and time again every counselor’s group would it’s members, no matter the size. And the grand finale, was that the girls would catch Kara.

I thought holy shit! I pictured myself falling into my high school friends them letting go and then it went something like those fall dreams you have, where you suddenly wake up and grab your arms and legs to see if you really did fall.

Kara was in fact a petite 22 year old. She had a wirely 122lb five foot 4 frame with long brown hair and eternal short bangs that I’m pretty sure she’ll be buried with. She was proud of her whistle and clipboard and that at long last she had those, she had power over someone or so she thought.

Enter my girls.

We lined up with my 7 cynical 13 year olds. Several of them during this particular week were from Shelter homes scattered over VA. I had no privileged Elks children this session and it was evident though their sallow eyes. None of them volunteered to be caught. My girls attacked Kera’s optimism at every weak point. Baiting her with questions to which she could only answer in wishes, rainbows, and butterflies. To Karas defense, we were not always allowed to answer “the truth.” I just preferred to say, “we can’t talk about that here”, no unicorns.

Kera went through the line, looking for the small girl, but there were none. They all were at least 5’5 to 5’7. Weighing in between 138 (smallest) to 240 something. I have to admit, I was not sure my group could catch any of it’s own members. So Kera stepped forward and hopped up unto the stump. For whatever reason Kera placed me and the other counselor at the foot of the line versus the middle. I thought odd at the time since we were still the oldest, but hey what do I know.

She crisscrossed her arms closed her eyes.

And fell back …….and was GREETED WITH unconsciousness.

My girls let her GO! Me and Lauren were left holding Kera’s shoes in the air.

The next too noises haunt me in my sleep.

1. One of my girls laughed like Nelson on the Simpsons (an exact mimic) “Ha Haaaaaaaa!”

2. “Poooomp” The sound of Karas head hitting the stump of the tree.

And the inappropriate timing and sound of my own giggling as ALL the kids gathered to rouse Kara.

Don’t worry she lived.
But I doubt she’ll be doing anymore trust exercises anymore.

My girls had been dropped all their life.
Moral of the story, get up and trust yourself!
It’s not other peoples job to catch your lazy ass all the time.

Yesterday, Bax and I went down to the Mall in DC to go to the book festival. We had been planning to go for months because three of my favorite authors were gonna be there talking and signing books. I bought a copy of my favorite book, A Prayer for Owen Meany, so I could get John Irving to sign it.

When we got to the book signing area, we saw that the longest line ever was for John Irving. Another author that I really like, Jeffrey Deaver, was signing books at the same time as John Irving, so Bax was going to stand in the Jeffrey Deaver line and get my book signed while I waited in the John Irving line. But then we heard that John Irving was only signing his new book, which is really annoying. On top of that, he had other rules, such as no personalization, no actual message, only a scribble that wasn't even really a signature. What an asshole. Seriously, that is a dick move.

I was kind of glad not to have to wait in that line anyways. Instead we got in the line for Jeffrey Deaver and he was the nicest guy! He was shaking everybody's hands and talking to them for a minute or two. He was actually a human being.

Screw John Irving.

Survey Says!

1. Good old fashioned F, Marry, Kill, OEF Edition: Jared Leto, Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds (Please explain your rationale)

F: Ryan Reynolds (I have eyes. And needs. I have eyes and needs.)
Marry: Ryan Reynolds (I have long-term needs.)
Kill: Alanis Morrisette so the first two are possible.

I’m sorry, who exactly are the other two people mentioned?

2. What movie do you think is complete rubbish, even though everyone else in the world seems to think it's a masterpiece? And, of course, why?

Ok, I don’t know if other people think it is a masterpiece, but I hated the Ring II. Could this woman be a worse parent? Could there be more plot holes, inconsistencies, or contrived dialog? And call me crazy, but I thought that crime scenes remained that way for more than a couple of hours, so how was the biatch able to get into the house so easily at the beginning of the movie? And she just happened to know that the key was hidden in a fake rock? I digress.…

3. You have your real job now, the one that makes money, but if you could have your dream career what would it be?

My job doesn’t make money. Just wanted to get that out of the way. But my dream careers are G’s Chief of Staff or Leslie’s Personal Scientist thingee.

4. What are your top 3 casting choices for the role of YOU in the movie based on your life? How about your brother?

1. Rachel McAdams
2. Reese Witherspoon
3. Sandra Bullock?

1. Topher Grace
2. Adam Brody
3. Scott Baio (hey, he still looks young!)

5. Song quote of the moment, for no reason whatsoever:

From the Beatles song, “Don’t let me down”,

“Don’t let me down! Don’t let me dooown. Whoo-ooo..”

Only, I have a reason and that it because it is the perfect song to sing to get other, crappy songs out of your head, be they home-loan commercial jingles (“866-66-Faster, you’ve got the green light!”) or stupid Fall-Out boy songs (“Blah ble blah de blah de doo da..”). I swear those stupid boys are not singing real words….

6. You are MC Hammer. You have to give jobs to all of your friends for your posse. Who gets what job & why? Include Non-OEFers if you like.

See number 3. I want either G or Leslie to be MC Hammer so I can be Chief of Staff or Personal Celebrity-Creating Scientist.

7. What song(s) do you BELT out when you’re alone in the car?

Pretty much whatever I am listening to. Faves include anything by Alkaline Trio and Lagwagon. Or Goldfinger.

8. If you had to have an accent other than the one you have which would you like? It can’t be British.

Meryl Streep’s in The Bridges of Madison County. Italian, I believe?

Survey Answers

1. Good old fashioned F, Marry, Kill, OEF Edition: Jared Leto, Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds (Please explain your rationale)

I would F Ryan, Marry Mark, & Kill Jared Leto.
F Ryan Reynolds. Have you seen his body?
Marry Mark Ruffalo because he is local and easy.
Kill Jared Leto because he hasn’t been in anything worthy of notice since MSCL.

2. What movie do you think is complete rubbish, even though everyone else in the world seems to think it's a masterpiece? And, of course, why?

Fargo. He puts a lady in a wood chipper. William H. Macy is BORING.

3. You have your real job now, the one that makes money, but if you could have your dream career what would it be?

A comic book artist or a music DJ. Who owns more music than me?

4. What are your top 3 casting choices for the role of YOU in the movie based on your life? How about your brother?

I’m gonna go with Claire Danes, Missy Elliott, and non-man looking Chloey Sevigny.
Larry would be played by Joaquin Phoenix. Quiet, cute, moody.
Mom would be played by Sally Field, if only because I like the way she says “Sheeeilbeeee” in Steel Magnolias.

5. Song quote of the moment, for no reason whatsoever:

HAITI, BY THE ARCADE FIRE
“In the forest we are hiding, unmarked graves where flowers grow.
hear the soldiers angry yelling, in the river we will go.”

6. You are MC Hammer. You have to give jobs to all of your friends for your posse. Who gets what job & why? Include Non-OEFers if you like.

I’m keeping the Nightclub Coordinator job at Destiny for CA. She’s officially in charge of negotiating all the hot acts that come through. I would always need an intricate mix of Indie/Alterna spun with some hip/hop.

Hench would be my personal scientist. I would give her the equipment she would need to breed several thousand hybrid celebrities. Rob Lowe + Daniel Day Lewis =???

Sheiko/Marcia would be my stylists.


7. What song(s) to you BELT out when you’re alone in the car?

“To Love You More” by Celine Dion.
God. It’s Celine Dion. There goes whats left of our loyal readers.

8. If you had to have an accent other than the one you have which would you like? It can’t be British.

James Van der Beek in Varsity Blues. “I don’t wont yer life.!”
Oh..dammit I already have that accent!
Or Maybe Reese Witherspoon’s character in Vanity Fair, that’s not British is it?

Officially out of ideas, so take a survey & pretend it's content

1. Good old fashioned F, Marry, Kill, OEF Edition: Jared Leto, Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds (Please explain your rationale)

I would F Jared Leto, Marry Ryan Reynolds, & Kill Mark Ruffalo.

F Jared Leto because he is Jordan Friggin Catalano.
Marry Ryan Reynolds cause I think he’s gonna age well.
Kill Mark Ruffalo because he is too short. I’m shallow.

2. What movie do you think is complete rubbish, even though everyone else in the world seems to think it's a masterpiece? And, of course, why?
Moulin Rouge. It was pretty to look at & all, but the story & use of contemporary songs were just too fruity.


3. You have your real job now, the one that makes money, but if you could have your dream career what would it be?

I’d like to be a lifestyle consultant for retardedly rich people that don’t have time to figure out how to be interesting or can’t keep up with culture. My job would consist of reading magazines, watching tv, listening to music, spending other people’s money on non-important crap. I dunno.

4. What are your top 3 casting choices for the role of YOU in the movie based on your life? How about your brother?

Number one choice to play me is Angelina Jolie cause movies are MAKE BELIEVE. Number two is Alia Shawcat aka Maeby on Arrested Development. She’s snarky. Number three is Annabeth Gish circa 1989. She’s got brown hair.

I’d get Billy Crudup to play my brother Butch, if he would put on like 25 pounds. As for big bro Brian, definitely Donnie Wahlberg. Playing the roll of non-existent brother Dennis would be a flaming sack of crap.


5. Song quote of the moment, for no reason whatsoever:

From the Magnetic Fields song, “All my little words”,

Now that you've made me want to die You tell me you're un-boyfriend-able And I could make you pay and pay But I could never make you stay


6. You are MC Hammer. You have to give jobs to all of your friends for your posse. Who gets what job & why? Include Non-OEFers if you like.

Hench is a proven Chief of Staff. Her main function is to recruit bomb boys to lounge all over my compound.

Leslie is Secretary of Shit-Talking. She’s great with making up a fake quote for someone that totally sums up the entirety of their personality. I.e. “Girl! I’m so glad you called, We really need to catch up, but grandma just made some turkey salad! Gotta go!”

7. What song(s) to you BELT out when you’re alone in the car?

“Skinned” by Blind Melon. Not sure why.

8. If you had to have an accent other than the one you have which would you like? It can’t be British.

I’d like to have whatever weird-ass accent that Little Edie Beale of Grey Gardens fame had. I know this isn’t fun for either of you seeing as you haven’t seen the movie, but I can’t help it. Rent it so you know what I’m talking about.

Tender Moments

I was flipping through an old CD book when I stumbled upon a copy of the movie The Hench & I had to make for our "Short Works in Narrative Media" class. I thought everyone would enjoy some screen shots. The picture is HORRIBLE, but that's not entirely our fault. We shot it with a perfectly good video camera, but then had to put it on a computer using some antiquated video-computer transfer system in the Digital Services Lab in the library.

Temesgen starred as one of our protagonists roommates, and in this scene he notices something afoot outside his front door.






Here, a barely recognizeable & pixelated Baxter shadily drops a monkey off (from the Piece-an!).








Phillips immediately bonds with the Monkey upon discovering it when he comes home from class. Before this shot there were a series of shots of him bonding with the monkey. Offering the monkey some Papa John's, offering to take the monkey skateboarding, playing basketball with the monkey. What you can't see in pictures, and possibly the most disturbing thing of all was the HORRIBLE techno music that Phillips insisted on playing while shooting the bonding scenes. It's the music that haunts my dreams.

After "roommates" Temesgen, Templeton, & Mike Casey (sigh), consistently hate on his new best monkey friend, Phillips forsakes them for the primate. I like this shot cause Mike Casey is totally cheesing in this picture.







Templeton decided to take matters into his own hands & get rid of the monkey, which Phillips didn't take well. Here he throws a glass of water on an unsuspecting Temp. This was not in the script, and if I remember, Temp was not happy about this improv. I later regretted taking out all the actual audio for the movie & doing voiceover (which I now understand is a lame move anyway) but only because after Phillips douses Temp with the water, Mike Casey exclaims "You're going crazy with that damn monkey...throwing water on people!" Thankfully I still have the master tape, though.



Temp helps Phillips cope with loss of Monkey.

Closing Credits. I think I actually made these things in MS Paint.

iPiphany

When Hench & Husband were visiting a few weeks ago, we watched Louis CK’s HBO One Night Stand. In it, he talked about why politicians can’t relate to regular people, and how it’s because politicians (re: rich people) don’t know what it’s like to be poor, but poor people know all about what it’s like to be rich. How we all have our “rich lives” planned out. It’s true. Just ask anyone I talk to on a regular basis about the castle I plan to build once I purchase my winning Mega Millions ticket, and you’ll be damned if they can’t list at least a half a dozen of it’s amenities.

I came to the most amazing epiphany yesterday, my 26th birthday.

You see, for decades it seems; the world, the media, and mostly Leslie, have declared that I need an iPod. The thought would wake me from sleep; “I don’t have an iPod. I am inadequate to exist in society.”

I would regularly cruise the Apple website, hoping for a miraculous price drop. I would vainly “customize” minis with a “PUNK BOOTY” engraving much in the manner that some girls pour through those “design your own engagement ring” websites. I even half-heartedly explored those “Get a free iPod” emails where you have to sign up for three offers of some sort, usually bailing when I realized even $5.95 in shipping & handling for some crappy product that I’d return immediately would break my sad bank.

So yesterday was my birthday. My office had the obligatory catch-all September birthday party, and lucky me it was actually on my birthday. Two of my lovely co-workers went in together and got me a fantastic present. Having heard me ramble on about iPods, they decided to shut me up and give me a 1 GB shuffle, gift receipt included.

And so the epiphany horse left the gate. My immediate thought was, “Goody, I’m halfway to a REAL iPod.” I figured I could hang on to the shuffle for a few weeks, and with my next pay I could skip into Circuit City & at least get a Nano. 1,000 isn’t what I NEED, apparently, but it’ll do.

You see, bringing it back to the Louis CK rich-life planned out line of thinking, I’ve realized that living in a dream-world for however little chunks of time as I do, I’ve subconsciously delineated where I can get a little piece of the good life, and iPod ownership made that list. I somehow believed that I was entitled to the best damn iPod possible. Until, that is, about 3:00pm, when, BING-BONG, it dawned on me that a Shuffle will do me just fine.

When I wake up in the morning, I listen to Howard Stern. No iPod necessary. In the car on the way to work? Howard. After December, my nifty Sirius will be taking care of that. At work I’m listening to Howard until he’s done, and for the rest of the day I’ve got a rather overgrown iPod substitute sitting on my desk in the form of a computer loaded up with every mp3 I’ve collected since the dawn of Napster back in the ORIGINAL SAC office. On the way home from work I listen to Breuer Unleashed on Sirius, and when I get home It’s all TiVo, all the time. So basically, the only timeslot left for music enjoyment is gym time, of which I can only handle about an hour/hour & a half at a time.

Further, I am a crazy-anal-retentive loon, and only being able to select 240 songs at a time is right up my alley. I can work out all sorts of whacked-out playlist schematics on a daily basis.

Another co-worker (and Leslie, ahem) have hinted that I am just settling, that I’d be singing a different tune had I a fancier iPod. BUT I SAY NAY! I am confident that my Shuffle-Acceptance, and dare I say, embracement, is the turn of a new leaf for me.

I think it was Sinead O’Connor who said, “I do not want what I haven’t got.” Or some other unselfish crap, but really, the song remains the same. I’ve hit the downhill skids of my 20’s. I need to spend a little less time planning my “rich life” and a little more time actually enjoying my poor life.

More Illustrations

Here's another "commissioned" piece i may or may not have done for someone I worked? with.
What do you guys think?
Am I doing anything or do these suck?

Is it just me?

or is Mark Ruffalo the male (romantic) lead in every single movie that has came out in recent months?

Not that I have anything against him, but where are the others?

I haven't seen a good romance film since Eternal Sunshine..and crap he's in that too!

The Perfect Nightclub

I'll say this blog is the result of an extended daydream which begin with a question (by G) that went something like this:
"If you won Mega-Millions, would you hire me?"

To which I responded, yes "You would be event planner, project coordinator at my nightclub - Destiny."

WHY DESTINY?... because it's GONNA HAPPEN regardless. The only question is..will you meet it?
A daydream is born.

My perfect nightclub, would be divided up like a grid. Split into two sections - couples on right side, singles on the left. My doormen (one that would look like Andre 3000, the other one Big Boi) would send each group to their respective side of the steps. This would remove most of the squabbling that results when couples/singles club together because the opposing partner would dance with someone else. Plus the only thing couples love more than their own coupliness is .....ANOTHER COUPLE. Also the pressure of hooking up that pesky third wheel party would be alieved because the wheel would have no choice but to go to the Singles section.

*Also as an added convenience to our couples we offer childcare hours of 12-3..a.m.

But fear not singles, DESTINY will take care of you. If you see no one you know, or no good options on the dance floor you will be furnished with an ON-Call hottie. Several generic hot escorts will dance with you, engage in conversation and occasionally pinch your behind just for that real club feel. Our waiters and waitresses work only for Mardi Gras beads.
Gas is high don't spend your money! Use beads!

Destiny is further divided into subfloors for all musical tastes. If you are lacking confidence in your two-step, join us for the Electric Cha-Cha slide. A floor continuously dedicated to the easiest dances known to man. Anybody can do this and look good. Test your skills here ladies before the "booty is on hydraulics" floor challenge. We also have a house music floor in the sublevels, that's right - bring your glow sticks and dance like you are having an epileptic fit.

Don't forget to check out our NO corner. Solely dedicated to those non-dancers that stand on the front lines of dignity and refuse to drop it likes its hot.

If you are hungry sit down in our lavish taco bar. Dip your bowl in the river of Salsa. Attitudes aside ladies no hamburger throwing allowed. That's all they serve is tacos, because ...that is MY FAVORITE FOOD (and it is.. my daydream).

If you find yourself too intoxicated, or sick from tacos, or err both; be sure to pass out on our SOFA. We only have one, but hell, I can't carry you and I don't want you driving.

DESTINY.
MEET IT.
I'M OUT.

My POV of NYC

I forgot that I've yet to recap my recent trip to NYC, and since we could all use some fluff around here, considering hurricanes, trigger-happy police, poverty all around (us three & abound), and countless other examples of crappery. Since it is Friday & my brain has ceased to work, I will outline my trip in little baby chunklets.

The Accommodations:

We stayed on the 17th floor of the famed Waldorf-Astoria, a hotel forever burned in my memory as the hotel that King & Queen Jaffe Jaffur stayed at in the film Coming to America. I have to say, my electronic friends, this hotel did not suck. Our room had a doorbell, which I thought was very lovely, if entirely useless as we only had one room. A light knock would have sufficed. The best thing about this hotel, aside from the cheesy bravado when ordering a cab driver to take you to the Waldorf, was how comfy the beds were. I would have been totally okay with just staying in bed watching Big Brother. Hey man, it's my vacation. I only have 480 thread-count at home!

The Tourist Traps:
We purchased something called a "New York Pass" which gets you into all sorts of crap, so we had a laundry list of places to go. Our first day there we did the Empire State Buidling, which I found sort of meh. Directly after was the NYC Skyride inside the Empire State Building which was equally meh, besides it being narrated by Kevin Bacon (Hench's man) & featuring a recently departed Scotty from Star Trek. In other landmarky-type stuff, we took the Circle Line cruise out to the Statue of Liberty. She's tall & green. That's about it.

We did the NBC Studios Tour, and the most exciting thing about that was checking out the clay figures from the claymation episode of Conan. Other than that, the NBC Studios Tour was a massive marketing campaign for HDTV (which our tour guide frequently flubbed as HGTV aka the evil network that dominates like 78% of my television watching time with all them damn House Hunters reruns). Seriously, they were pushing HDTV hard, probably cause they've gotta spend a bazillion dollars upgrading their shit & actually having to make decent sets (instead of using duct tape to indicate metal trim on the Dateline set, etc.), they'll make us spend a coupla bucks on a new damn tv to appreciate it.

Also on the tourist-trap route was the mandatory visit to Madame Toussaud's wax museum. Not that I've ever fronted like I'm some kind of sophisticated lady or anything, but goddamn this place is fun. Where else can you knee the President in the junk & not get tackled? I mean, I mysteriously have been audited in the two weeks since I've been there, but whatever!

Seriously though, I almost got put in wax museum jail as I have medically-documented poor balance. In trying to get this picture in, I nearly toppled our dear (pff!) president for reals.



Actual Culture:

We went to see Spamalot, starring my (gay?, I don't even know) boyfriend Tim Curry as the Arthur King. I can't even hate on Condi wanting to go see this shit cause it was the bizomb. The Lady of the Lake's costumes were so shiny & fantastical that the 5 year old in me was totally awoken and wanting to be her for Halloween.

Our shiny New York Pass allowed us to whisk to the front of the line at the Museum of Modern Art, where I stupidly forgot to bring my camera. Actually, I didn't know I was allowed to photograph anything so I didn't bother bringing it. But I did snap a pic of this OOF painting with my phone because I thought it would make a good wallpaper (on the phone). No, I didn't catch who painted the damn thing, and No I don't feel bad about that. I don't have conversations where I have to prove that I know crap about art, so I'll just save that real estate in my brain. Now, if we're talking about the history of the lives of the residents of a fictional town of Salem, USA as depicted on the critically-underappreciated television series Days of Our Lives, well, fasten your seatbelts. Because I DO often have to match wits on that business.

In other culture taking-ining, we also went to the Museum of Television & Radio. When I win the Mega Millions I am totally going to give this museum some money. It was D-O-P-E. First, you go up to the library, where you hopped on some 15 year old Apple computer & could look up any damn television or radio program in HISTORY. You could pick up to four & they send you down to the viewing room to check em out. So what did I do with this awesome opportunity to use the world's biggest TiVo? Watch JFK's funeral? No. First Moonwalk? No. Listen to the original War of the Worlds broadcast? NO! The three programs I chose were

(1. First Episode of Days of Our Lives, 1965: This was AWESOME. Alice & Tom before gray hair & Julie as a pre-teen! Also, soap operas were originally shot live so there were plenty of line flubs. The best part, though, was when Marie Horton's fiancee said (I think he was ad-libbing) "You wanton hussy!", when his fiancee intimated that she couldn't wait to get married so they could get busy.

(2. Conan's first show, 1994: I loves me some Conan.

(3. Last Episode of My So-Called Life : Holy crap. Brian Krakow! Even though this was, like, the greatest tv show of all time, I'm sort of glad it only lasted one season (like Freaks & Geeks) and didn't have a chance to get shitty.


So, those were the highlights (or lowlights, depending who you ask).

Waa!

I was digitally abandoned today by a certain G, I won't hold it against you since you are working.

I was saddened.......AGAIN to find my favorite blog is closing down. My artsy fartsy weblog is leaving! The writer has to cut back expenses and unfortunately he no longer has the time or the cash to continue the site. I spend so much time being THE muse. It's depressing to loose one of mine. It's been nice to a have a cyber teacher.

Speaking of teachers, whilst looking for coupon inspiration. I stumbled upon an elementary school teacher's curriculum for her third grade class somewhere in the Syracuse region. This interested me because essentially the assignment was for the class to "deconstruct the basic design components of a coupon." This would hopefully lead to a better understanding of a graphic designers career choice. Way to go third graders. So in 13 years I gotta watch out for these kids. They'll be trying to take MY JOB.

Here's hoping someone sends me another link to new design guru :)

Quick pop quiz for you:
My 7-11 hoagie was a. dry b. expensive c. containing emu meat or d. all of the above.
The answer is...D!

Have been pondering intense life question after receiving an email of interest.
Would you be willing to leave your everday life for three months to go to a desolate location to help those in need?
AND IF IT MEANT CLOSE TO 50K?

I would hate to be a slave to the man, but damn cash is soo seductive.

Reasons to be happy

I had such a bad weekend, it's going to take me a few days to compose the kinda blog I want to write. So despite growing reasons to be depressed. I thought I'd post my most recent graphic illustration of two of my room-mates.

One of them manages to make me smile on the shittiest of days.

Love babees!

My first advisor in the art department died about 6 months or so ago (maybe longer) but I just got word today.
Even though I only met with him briefly, he was one of those people that could reassure you that life changing decisions you make that first year of college are potentially not as imposing or as threatening as anyone else would have you believe.

Thanks for the words of confidence Mike! You will be missed.