Practice makes perfectly busy

So after reading Cameron's blog today, I'm jealous. I miss doing freelance stuff, and he's all up in it right now (keep at it boy, I really am happy that you've been busy). I'm kinda sorta working on Rino's new website, but it will be awhile. Design 1 is taking up more time than I thought it would. Granted, I haven't been pulling any allnighters (3:30 am is the latest I've stayed up for it), but it's because I've been splitting my assignments up and doing a bunch every day. I feel like I'm learning so much, but it's also bumming me out a little. I'm in an environment right now that is really inspiring me, and I want to create things. But homework is just not allowing me to do that right now. And I know that's okay, that I am here to learn, but dangit! I want to make things!

I am also way overdue for a blog redesign. It's not just the schoolwork--I really love this design. It's probably my favorite blog design so far, and I had fun coming up with it. I haven't been inspired yet by anything enough to make me want to change it, but I'm going to be keeping my eyes open over the next few weeks. Who knows, maybe there'll be something new sooner than you think.

Oh, if you have yet to do so, check out Asthmatic Kitty Records and Sounds Familyre. They're sister labels that are home to great folks like Sufjan Stevens, Wovenhand, and the Danielson Familie. Plus they have a really pretty website.

Google, will you be my friend?

My water got turned back on yesterday. And there was much rejoicing. The leaks are fixed as well, and so for now my house is chugging back along.

Shoot a prayer up for me today--I'm going to the Apple store at St. John's to see if they can resuscitate poor Lenny the iPod. I think if they can't do anything for him, I'm going to send him to iPod Mods. You can send them your iPod and they'll do a diagnostic of it, and they only charge you a penny! Then they tell you how much the repair would be, or they'll buy it for parts, or they'll send it back to you (you do have to pay for the shipping back though). So we'll see--but hopefully one of the Genius Bar guys at Apple can help me out.

Does anybody else use Google as a spellchecker when you only have one word that you can't spell? It's great. "Did you mean the word spelled correctly?" If Google were a person, I'd want to be his friend. He could follow me around and I'd ask him before I said something silly, and he'd be all, "Did you mean something witty?" Ah, good ole Google. What a pal.

++Thanks to Cameron, I'm now in love with Jeremy Cowert's photographs.

Good Weekend, Sad iPod

Well hello again. It's been a busy weekend, albeit a very good one. Caleb came to visit this weekend. I didn't have to work until tonight, so of course the weekend went by extremely fast. Hightlights of the weekend include:

• eating at Chili's with the whole fam
  
• watching "The Office Special"
  
• going to Vilano Beach and getting beaten up by the waves in the most hilarious possible way.
  
• hanging out with Aunt Candi and Pap-Pap
  
• The Alligator Farm (I will definitely be putting some pictures on Flickr soon)
  
• seafood at Sharky's and wandering around downtown and going on a Ghost Tour
  

Yeah, it was fun.

Some not-so-fun things, however, also decided to happen this weekend:

• A pipe or something sprung a leak in my front yard, so now my water has been turned off for the past two days while the city is fixing it.
  
• My iPod is sick. It's having these symptoms. I don't know what to do--I'm going to work on it a little tonight, and if I have no luck then I'll probably go to the Apple store. I really don't want to have to buy a new iPod, even though I didn't pay for this one (Caleb gave it to me when he got his PowerBook [ed]). The whole thing is just very, very sad.
  
• More Design I homework barelling my way...tonight marks the start of more late nights.

I really want a surfboard. Just thought I'd put that out there.

I think I might lie here a little longer

My final Design project is done. Thank goodness. I didn't even stay up late last night. The only sad thing is that I woke up today at 9:22. Not terrible, you say? Well, my design class is at 9:00. Yeah. I got ready in about 2 and a half minutes. I made it to class at 9:34, after frantically driving to school and almost getting run over by an inept old man who decided not to look before he turned left. Anyway, I'm not as upset about it now as I was before, becuase Liz (who had Design I last year) said that he'll probably just take a couple of points of the project grade. Which really stinks, because I worked hard on this, but at least he won't give me an "F".

My Vis. Comm class was cancelled today, so I spent extra time working on my two-page layout for Computer Graphics. I'[m pretty happy with how I'm doing in that class--mostly "A"s so far on my assignments. There is definitely some scary, Liberty-Freshman-esque design going on in that class, and I'm pretty sure the people doing it won't be Graphic Design majors much longer.

Liz and I talked for awhile (she's the Aide for that class) and she mentioned that the Bed and Breakfast that she works at might be hiring. They pay 1.25 more than what I make now, and it's this gorgeous B&B right on the bayfront downtown. Plus, she said that it's really easy and they're very flexible. I think it would be a lot of fun, and even though I would feel bad leaving the Holiday Inn...I wouldn't feel that bad.

Finally, I discovered another great restaurant here in town (as if there weren't already enough). It's called Mango Mango's and it's on A Street (off of Beach Blvd). I decided that I would celebrate because I worked so hard on my project (and console myself for getting up late) by eating out and going to the beach. Mango Mango's is right near where I always park when I go swimming, so I figured I would try it. A-maz-ing. I ordered the Hurricane Mahi (grilled fish with fruit salsa and carribean spices), which was spectacular. It came with this delicious garden salad and a side of fried plantains (you know, the little sweet bananas). I thought my taste buds were going to start jumping up and down. Seriously, incredible.

And now I am going to further enjoy not having homework by watching Italian for Beginners. Chai and blankets, here I come!

Filtered water and pictures of you

I just spent half an hour sitting on the floor at the front desk, reading The Creative Habit for my Art 477 class. Now I'm watching the Simpsons. When it's slow, this job is pretty much as good as working at the East Campus Clubhouse. And here I can even use the internet. Now if only I could get a stool...

Only two more "final" sketches before I'm done with my first Design I project.

My favorite Simpsons quote for the night:

Marge: Whatever happened to "please" and "thank you"?
Homer: I think they killed each other--you know, one of those murder/suicide deals...


++A couple of movies that I'm really excited about: Everything is Illuminated, Thumbsucker, and Junebug. Also, Elizabethtown by Cameron Crowe looks like it will be another classic (although Almost Famous shouldn't feel threatened). Check out this interview with Crowe about the music that he's using for the film.

++So Studio 8 is out from Macromedia. But it costs $299 to get it, even from Gradware. Bleh. Why is it that Macromedia and Adobe decide to come up with updates less than a year after I buy their programs. Boo.

C'est si bon!

I got off of work early tonight, so I spent an hour at BN devouring Spin, Rockpile, and Print. Yum.

I'm in love with Peter Arkle lately. His illustrations are both fascinating and funny.

My first Design I project is due Monday. Two final pieces tonight, four or five tomorrow, and three or so on Sunday. Then I'll be done. I'll also probably have brain damage from all the Sharpie that I'm inhaling. But at least I'll be happy and ethereal about it.

I found this great site called Fitz Patterns that has free clothing patterns. And they're pretty cute. I think I'm going to try my hand at sewing the some shorts and a tank top. But first I need to go to a fabric store, becuase St. Augustine doesn't have any. Which is just plain sad.

Oh, and I bought the Tazo Chai concentrate from Publix for two dollars. It has already made me three delicious cups of Chai tea that tastes just as good as the Starbucks version. And I've only used half of it. This makes me quite happy.

There are angels in your angles

I made chicken fajitas for dinner tonight. last night I made tacos, with all the fixin's. I have been quite the cook lately. You're missing out.

I went to a knitting party at Lindsay's house tonight. It was fun--it was nice to work on my scarf (well, my dad's scarf) for a little while.

I have muchos Design I to do. I knew it would be like this, and I'm glad that it is challenging, but dang. I hav barely had time for anything elsse, and I'll be glad when this project is done and I have a break for a day or two.

Or a week would be nice too.

I turn my camera on

Walking to class from my car, I have anice 2 block stroll down Valencia street. My iPod is on, my earbuds in, and I'm finding myself more and more ready to break into either spontaneous dance or full-on rock strut. That's the bad side of listening to catchy music. I start feeling like I'm in my own movie, and I've had to stop myself from dancing in the street.

Sometimes I wish I could let life be my movie, break into song and dance, and no one would even bat an eye. But if that was reality, we'd all look like wackos. Of course, maybe we do anyway.

Word of the day

transmogrify
[transmogrified, transmogrifying, transmogrifies]

To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre.

One of the people on written about on extreme craft decided to transmogrify hot dogs into works of art--and created a machine that will do it for you!

Scary, but true.

More and More

I keep reading/seeing more things that I want to learn how to make and do. The good thing is, instead of feeling depressed, I feel inspired. I may be non-stop busy this week, but I have 2 more years of college left. There is a lot that I'm going to accomplish.

WILL accomplish, darn it.

Smile like you mean it.

At work. Bored. Being a bad girl and using the internet. Typical, I know.

The National Hypnosis Group is here tonight in our conference room hosting a thing where they get people to either stop smoking or lose weight. Which means that around 6:00 there will be eighty people smoking their "last cigarette" just outside our front entry. I'm not kidding, last time there was so much smoke you couldn't even see past it on the security camera. It was a huge crowd. Plus, it also means that my lobby will be filled with the spouses or significant others of the people going to the conference. Which are not the classiest people in the world, to put it gently. Hopefully they'll leave the TV on Fox though, becuase tonight is The Simpsons and Family Guy premiere. Woo-hoo!

I miss Charlottesville. How random is that? I miss that movie theatre where I saw Eternal Sunshine and Garden State and I miss getting lost in UVA and the two-story Starbucks and Plan 9. But most of all I miss the fun car rides and adventures with people like Drew, Stephanie, Holly, Cameron, and of course Caleb. Oh, and I also miss Sheetz. There's nothing like a Schmagle or a [ed. because I forgot to finish my sentence] chicken and cheese Wrapz. Yum.

++Go make an Alien Alphabet. It's rather addicting, especially becuase you can actually download the font that you create.

++This is both incredible and creepy. Try it, you will be suprised how accurate it is.

++I am in love with the Kings of Convenience. They make me want to live in Norway. Go download "Misread" from their website and look up the video for "I'd Rather Dance With You" on iTunes (get iTunes v.5 while you're at it; Apple just released it and it's nifty). Also, if you buy me their cd, "Riot on an Empty Street", I will love you forever.

"Didn't you see them defrosting on my desk?"

In Passing is a beautifully hilarious website that boasts some of the best overheard quotes in Berkley, and I'd forgotten how much I love going there. A few of my favorite posts:

"Remember Kenny?"
"New guy, Josh's old co-worker?"
"Yeah. Tonight he was leaving the office and said, 'I'm going to go home and cook these steaks.' I didn't really care, but I said, 'What steaks?' And then he says, "Didn't you see them defrosting on my desk? I bought them from this guy. He was selling them out of the back of his car in the parking lot at McDonald's.'"
"Ew. Ew. I don't even eat cow but ew."
"So in case the next story I tell you about Kenny starts with 'So we haven't seen Kenny in a few days...' Now you know why."
--A guy and a girl waiting in line for breakfast at La Note

"I always feel thinner when I'm tan. You know how black pants are slimming? Dark colors? It's like black pants for your whole body."
"Except black pants don't kill you."
--Two women talking in the produce section at Whole Foods


"Wait, are there two Starbucks in the mall? I just yelled at my friend for being late, and there are two Starbucks in this mall?"
"Maybe she knew she was late, so she went to the other one. To trick you."
"What kind of friends do you have? And where is the other Starbucks?"
--A girl and a barista at (surprisingly) Starbucks.

Heehee. I love random bits of conversation. Add In Passing to your daily link list, it's a great way to start your day. No, really.

Rainy Days and Wax People

I just spent a lovely afternoon with Josh and Philip. I got this free attraction VIP pass for Saint Augustine just becuase I work at a hotel, so now I have the next thirty days to visit every touristy thing in the city. We went to Potter's Wax Museum today, which was mildly entertaining. I'm glad I didn't pay anything for it, but the torture chamber part was cool, and The was figure of Al Capone that turns its head scared the crap out of Josh.

We also saw this incredibly corny "movie" presentation about some boy in a river who gets inspired to cross a swamp becuase of all the great heros who have lived before him. I guess it was supposed to be life-changing, but I just wanted to see them putting eyeballs into the wax and cool stuff like that.

Chick-Fil-A is still my number 1 favorite fast food restaurant (considering that Arby's is the only other one I actually like, I guess that isn't saying a whole lot--then again, since those are the only two fast food places I eat at aside from Sonic [to get limeades] and a very rare stop at Wendy's when Caleb convinces me, maybe it is something. And this aside is way too long). Um, yeah, I ate there for dinner. It was good.

Tropical Storm Ophelia is hovering around Cape Carnaval, and as a result it's been pouring rain here for the past three days. I'm really starting to get tired of it, especially becuase a lot of the streets flood downtown, making it really wet for me to get to class. Although, since I had to drive down a different street to get out the other night (the end of my road tends to flood), I got to see a SWAT team! They busted out of a white van and surrounded a house and everything! Very cool, all exciting an' whatnot.

Let's Hear That String Part Again...

Caleb went back to Graceville today. I was sad to see him go--this weekend was a lot of fun, and it made me really realize how much I miss having him in my everyday life. It will probably be a month before I see him again, and even typing that I can't really comprehend it. Hopefully I'll know in advance enough to request the weekend off this time--I ihad to work 3-11pm on Saturday and Sunday, which took away from the time that we could spend together.

Design I is in full force--I have 120 thumbnails due Wednesday. I've already done about 50 or so, but I need to stop for the night so I can do some reading. I think I can handle Design if I just break it up and space it out. I know that's how you're supposed to do everything, but for once I think I'll actually DO that instead of saving things for the night before. Bad idea for that class.

Listening to Sufjan Stevens' "Come on Feel the Illinoise!" again. I forgot how much I love this cd.

A+ for Scheduling

I dropped my math class! Woo hooo! My schedule is now as follows:

--Design I
--Visual Communication II
--Computer Graphics I
--Creativity: The Art of Possibility

I cannot even tell you how happy I am about this.

Caleb is here for the weekend, but I've had to work for most of it, which is really sad, but it's been nice seeing him and hanging out a little bit.

I got a free sightseeing sheet so that I can go to every attraction in St. Augustine for free! And I get to bring up to 4 people with me. So the next day I have off, me and Philip and the Jones are going to the Alligator Farm!