Nifty Catchphrase

It's official.

2006-06-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hatman and I will be in Chicago from the evening of the 22nd through the afternoon of the 27th. Woohoo! It's been two whole years since I've been back, and I'm psyched.

Let me know if you want to hang out, and I'll see what I can do (Saturday is a wedding, which is the "real" reason that we're in town).

Using the Blog as an Incendiary Device

2006-03-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

I *heart* this post.

http://wolfbaronxylo.livejournal.com/193516.html

Last week, I ate a burger that was made of four different kinds of meat - beef, chicken, bacon, and sausage. It was yummy.

Well, fine.

2006-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1) Damien Scott
2) Geek Boi
3) Tom
4) Connor
5) Laura

Next select five people to tag.

1) Andrew
2) Beryl
3) Erica
4) Ryan
5) Sawyer (create a blog, dammit!)

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was in junior high, probably sitting in class, being a huge nerd and actually taking notes. Thinking about England, because it was the time of year before I got to go, when we were doing fundraising. Oh, and dreading Valentine's Day.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Sitting in the middle of my living room floor (but in a different apartment), frantically trying to complete a project for the Class of Doom #1, and wondering if I really wanted to be in grad school after all. Oh, and watching SciFi. That much hasn't changed.

Five snacks you enjoy:

- Chips and salsa.
- Dragonfly wafers.
- Popcorn.
- Moe's chips and queso.
- Crudite.

Five songs you know all the words to:

- Type O Negative, Black No. 1
- Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody (and a bunch of other Queen songs)
- Guns N' Roses, Sweet Child of Mine
- Major Tom, David Bowie
- Cities in Dust, Siouxsie and the Banshees

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

- Pay off every bit of student loan that Sawyer and I have gathered.
- Pay for the rest of school.
- Buy a new car.
- Buy a house in the Highlands (Atlanta), and a house in France.
- Buy a house for my parents.

Five bad habits:

- No tact.
- Messy as hell.
- Freaking out about absolutely everything.
- Control freak.
- Picking at my cuticles.

Five things you enjoy doing:

- Sleeping.
- Painting.
- Travelling.
- Dressing up and going to the club.
- Visiting friends.

Five things you would never wear again:

- Most pastel colors.
- Spandex bike shorts.
- My Sam Goody uniform.
- A baseball cap.
- A heart monitor (if I can avoid it).

Five favorite toys:

- My computer.
- My iPod.
- My comic books.
- My linoleum printing kit.
- My notebooks.

Weeeeeeeeeeee!

2006-01-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

I never post here any more! Hooray!

I really do exist, I swear. I'm just busy. And it's hard to remember to post when you have three of these darn things.

Weird website for the day:

http://www.bifrost.com.au/hosting/gnomes/

Yup yup. It's amazing what random Google searches turn up.

Mmmm....

2005-11-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Two useful lessons for today:

Ibuprofen is a wonderful substance obviously delivered directly from the gods.

Roaster's chili congeals really, really quickly (but it's still tasty).

I think that's it. Yep.

Top 10 reasons why I haven't blogged in a while:

2005-10-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

10. I had to wash my hair.
9. My dog ate my laptop.
8. Atlanta is so cold in the wintertime, you just wouldn't believe it.
7. Anne Rice found God and it's just devastated me.
6. Alien probes.
5. I got caught up in contemplating the "why" of everything.
4. I'm secretly my own evil twin.
3. Work and school are So Hard.
2. I just couldn't be bothered.
1. All my livejournal posts are quizzes and I didn't think anyone would be interested.

So, yeah. That's why I haven't posted here in a while. That, and all my LJ posts are things I don't want floating around the general internet. And they're not witty. I have got to be witty.

Eriudite!

2005-09-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

I don't have the faintest clue as to whether or not I spelled that correctly.

T-H-A-T

But I digress.

I was feeling a little isolated from the snobby art world I had been involved in during my years at the U of C, so I went to the bookstore and bought a copy of an artsy newspaper, Cabinet. I don't think it's all that visually-oriented, but it contains lots and lots of art drivel that I am really excited to read. Stream-of-consciousness writing and bad philosophy about the color ivory and made-up big words and all that. I don't know why it draws me in the way it does, but I don't think I really want to find out, because if I do, it will tell me something about my personality I'd prefer to keep hidden from myself.

Road Rage

2005-09-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

I sat at an intersection this morning for 15 minutes, waiting for it to clear so that I could go on to sit at another traffic light. Now, mind you, 15 minutes is my standard travel time from my home to work, on a good day. Today was the day that everybody and their dualie decided that they didn't need to make sure that oncoming traffic could make it through when the light changed. No... They pulled on through the intersection, blocking all lanes of oncoming traffic, so that through four changes of the light, we all sat there and waited. And waited. I finally pulled up and blocked the intersection, just so I wouldn't have to wait any longer. Therefore, I was still blocking the intersection when the other light changed. I could have moved out of the way if the idiot in front of me had gone into the open lane instead of waiting so he could cut across traffic. Then somebody in a Passat cut me off, instead of letting me go so I could clear the intersection.

I hate Atlanta traffic, but I think this wins the prize.

0 energy + much exercise = bad

2005-09-12T06:10:00.000-07:00

I got off my butt this weekend (and away from the television) in order to go biking to the park. The first time, which would be Saturday, I forgot to eat anything beforehand, so I got halfway to the park and had to stop and lie down for a while, lest I pass out. Note to the wise: make sure your body is fueled before strenuous excercise. I did make it to the park, though, and bought some Gatorade, and ate lunch, and so the way back home was much easier. Yesterday I felt motivated to do the same, so I made sure to eat and drink plenty before heading out, and packed an energy drink and bar. I had no problems. I even forgot to eat the energy bar (so I had it at home as a treat). I think I might make a habit of this excercise thing, especially since Hatman will participate.
I decided to start taking some St. John's Wort in an attempt to relieve stress. I haven't seen a great change so far, but I have noticed that it's easier to talk myself down from a panic attack lately. I have to tell myself that I am just fine, nothing is wrong with me, and that I'm not having a heart attack. I'm getting better at it. I am even able to talk myself out of caffeine jitters, since I'm convinced that caffeine doesn't bother me as much as my subconscious thinks it does, especially when the caffeine I'm drinking is mixed with half a cup of milk (i.e. coffee).

Also, I saw The Brothers Grimm, and I agree - the kitten was unnecessary. But I was entertained, mostly.

DragonCon

2005-09-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

But it was awesome while it lasted. Sawyer dressed as Lobster Johnson from the Hellboy comics and will most likely be online soon (I'll post a link when I find it). He even had a crazy fan, who found him three times and made a point to talk to him for long periods of time. Also, when we went by the Dark Horse booth, Hellboy's editor was super excited about the costume, so he took some photos of it and plans on posting it in the letters section in the BPRD comic. So keep an eye out for it. I dressed as Miho from the Sin City comic, but unfortunately it is more obscure than the film and so therefore only two people recognized me. I saw some movie Sin City characters later, even a movie Miho. It made me feel a little better. There was a comic version of Nancy, so I guess that's alright. However, I got more photos taken of me in my falls and corset than in the costume, so I was happy anyway. Instant celebrity!
Things I did: Saw the Cruxshadows, saw Voltaire, got Voltaire to sign my copy of Oh My Goth, saw amateur wrestling, met Sid Haig, met Lloyd Kaufman (who, by the way, is awesome and the nicest guy ever and told me I was too pretty and intelligent to be liking Troma films), met the guys who do Homestar Runner, bought more dice, took pictures of people in costume, made eye contact with the guy who played Chewbacca, and bought Jennie Breeden her first ever Dilly Bar. And I lost my voice. And went to the Future, which is a decent club. It reminded me of Erica. Meridith and I attempted to buy a Jack Sparrow a drink, but I think he thought we were really drunk and declined (politely). I think I made a friend with a guy whom I didn't recognize the last time I saw him because all other times we spoke he was dressed in, well, a dress. Once it was black and vinyl, and the second time it was pink and vinyl. Weird.
Now I miss people again, especially Meridith and Chris (I miss Lisa, too, but I hope to be able to see her again in another couple of weeks, since she lives relatively close to me). I kept trying to convince them to move down here, with little success. I'll keep trying.
Then I slept for three hours and am now freaking out because all my schoolwork is due (read: finals) this week, and I didn't get anything done on it this weekend. I will be sleeping very little for the next couple of nights.

Eek.

Sawyer has gone out.

2005-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

To buy gas. The pipeline that supplies the city with most of its oil (I don't know exactly how this works) has been inoperative for the past couple of days, so it looks like Atlanta will be without gas for Labor Day weekend. If it has gas, the gas will be really really expensive. So Sawyer went out tonight to fill up the tank before we can't get any gas. We don't want to strand any of the people to whom we've promised rides this weekend, and, well, the trains don't run after 1am, so we'd like some reliable mode of transportation other than a taxi cab.

Mr. Miyagi is on TV, but he's not Mr. Miyagi. He's some weird physics professor fighting the devil. Evidently he has to prove some eeeeeevil equation in order to stop Satan from taking over the world. I knew math was evil. I just knew it.

Sniffles.

2005-08-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I left my kleenex at home and I really could use one right now. It's been a week since I bought the darn things to take to work.

However, it is mostly okay because Meridith, Lisa, and (last but not at all least) Fyvel will all be here in 3 or four days (depending on the person). Most will be here in three days. I'm really really excited. Oh, and my brother will be here. Yeah.

I just hope I can get all my homework done before the Con...

Zzzzzz....

2005-08-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for the weekend to start.

I am actually going to go to a bar with people my own age (other than Hatman) for the first time since I moved to Atlanta. I'm both apprehensive and excited at the same time.

Numberology

2005-08-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that I have a strange sort of OCD... I seem to only like things in groups of prime numbers. For example, I'll go out of my way to make sure that I never have an even number of things, though I seem to make an exception for multiples of three and five. I find this odd. Hatman noticed it the other day. I'd never noticed it before.

Bruce f****n' Campbell

2005-08-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

Bruce Campbell is currently touring along with the release of his new movie, Man with the Screaming Brain. Last week, I picked up the local free paper and noticed that, lo and behold, he'd be at the neighborhood arts cinema doing a book signing and a Q&A before three exclusive showings of the film. So Sawyer and I played hooky for the evening and went to see the movie. Actually, first we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant I'll definitely return to and then had ice cream at Jake's and then saw the movie, but you get the idea. We had to settle for the 11pm showing, as all the others were sold out, but it ended up being okay. No book signings, though; we decided to wait and buy the book later, then catch Mr. Campbell at a convention or something. Even though it was at 11 on a school night, the theatre was packed. We met one of the local goths while in line (he was with a group of younger people who were having a lengthy conversation about poo). Bruce was awesome, though. I'm used to him being a total jackass to his fans, but he was really cool this time. He talked about living in Oregon, and the documentary he and his wife are making about what you should do in public places, and about the state of Hollywood today. He said some things I really agree with, about how Hollywood thinks that certain poor box office returns are due to piracy, when in fact they're just due to really crappy movies. I wanted to ask about his opinions on Troma films, but I wasn't sure it was appropriate.
The movie was... strange. It was filmed in Bulgaria, and along with Bruce, starred Stacey Keach and Sam Raimi. I felt that it was far above a Sci-Fi channel quality (even though it was filmed primarily for that purpose - catch it September 10th). I'm not sure how it will translate to the small screen, though. Now, mind you, it wasn't terrific. It was a solid B film. However, it was thoroughly entertaining, and I'd watch it again.

I sort of hoped that Bruce would recognize Sawyer from the ScavHunt video (which some fan might have sent in the mail, thinking it was cool), but it didn't happen. He did brush past me while I was standing in the lobby, though.

Yeah.

LEAST COMPETENT PEOPLE:

2005-08-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

"Citing the high quality of the workforce in Ontario, Toyota decided recently to build a second plant in the province even though Ontario was offering only about half the subsidy offered by Mississippi and Alabama to build the plant in one of those states. According to a July Canadian Press story, a Toyota spokesman said it had learned from Nissan and Honda, which had found the work force in the U.S. South to be often untrained and illiterate, and that, in Alabama, trainers had to use pictorials to teach some workers how to use the equipment."

I don't think they even approached Arkansas about this. Anyway, it's all self-perpetuating, and is why Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi remain the three crappiest states in the Union.

I'll post something more positive later on.

It's getting dark outside...

2005-08-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

I planned on riding my bike to the park today, but it looks as thought either I'm going to have to wait a while before I go, or I'm not going to get to go at all. It's about 5pm right now and I could swear that it looks more like it's 7 or 8. just before the sun goes down. There are some storms moving through the area and the one over us right now is particularly heavy. Very soon, we will lose the satellite signal on the television, and I will be left with doing work on the computer (which is really what I should be doing, after all). I will enjoy Carey Grant while he is there, or perhaps change the channel and see if there's something better on another channel.

And the sky keeps getting darker. This is going to be a big rain.

'Kay, then.

2005-08-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

An awesome website: Bugs!

Also, please do not bank with Wachovia. In the six months I have had my account, they have done nothing to make me want to keep an account with them. In fact, they make me want to take my money away from them and then punch their CEO for making things so difficult for me the past couple of months. Since when is it standard bank practice to hold checks from clearing (payroll checks, mind you) for a week because an account is less than six months old? And then they charged both me and Hatman a bunch of overdraft fees that we could have avoided if Wachovia hadn't dicked us around about them.

So, yes. Bank with Citibank, if you have to. It's better than Wachovia.

Gah.

2005-08-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Wachovia can suck it.

2005-08-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! Happy quarter-century, Xylo!

Now you can pay less for rental cars. Isn't that momentous?

Ohio

2005-08-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

I slept a lot right after we returned. The trip to Zanesville ended up being really quite interesting. We got in early Friday afternoon, and assumed that nobody else was there yet (though found out later that Milligan had been there as long as we had). We drove around Zanesville for most of the day, and feel that we saw pretty much all of it. We've driven across the famous Y Bridge several times now. At the end of our exploration (after taking pictures of Ohio Route 666 road signs) we found the Zanesville mall. There, we went to an awesome comic book/video game/used movie place, and discovered that Zanesville appears to have the largest group of high school-aged goth kids anywhere that I've seen within the United States so far.
The next day we went to Jess and Connor's wedding, which was beautiful. Millit looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress, and the ceremony went pretty smoothly, except for when the ring bearer didn't make it down the aisle because he was too interested in picking his nose to continue any further. After the ceremony we went to an outdoor reception with loads of UofC people we know, and dancing, and pizza. It was nice to see all the people I haven't seen in a while, but would like to see more often. Okay, so maybe not all of them, but a decent number, at least. Following the reception, Ridith, Gemma, Milligan, Hatman and I went back to the mall for a round of blacklight putt putt. Though none of us was really very good at it, it was indeed fun. Then (ah, faithful readers, the night was not nearly over) we drove to Columbus, picked up some more people (aka Carla) and went to the Church, which is the Goth night in Columbus. I wore The Boots and danced my ass off (perhaps even a little literally). I hadn't been to a goth club in over a year, so this was fantastic. It's weird, though, because the clubs in Columbus are non-smoking, so it had a very smoky and crowded back patio that I only glimpsed. It also had a water cooler with free water for patrons. I think that LDO would like it a lot (it even had an LDO-esque person, whom I determined to be inferior based on the quality of her dancing and her lack of Hair and Pants). RIght. So I think I will go back, if I'm ever in Columbus again.
And then it was back to Zanesville and sleep. We had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, and tried to find the Longeberger Basket Factory (unsuccessfully), and then went on our way home.

All in all, even though I feel guilty for having done no homework all weekend, it was completely satisfactory.

New thing.

2005-08-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

From now on, the LJ posts will be cross-posted here, for the benefit of those who don't have an LJ. (All LJ-specific posts will be posted only on LJ).

Design rants.

2005-07-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

I've become something of a snob about advertising campaigns, especially branding campaigns, ever since I started design school. So when I heard that the company I work for part-time (as an administrative assistant, not a designer) was starting a branding campaign to redesign their image for their annual meeting next year, I was interested in seeing what they've dug up. I did some research and found out that the company they've hired is from Chicago, the same company, in fact, that designed the advertising campaign to promote Chicago tourism that's going up in O'Hare and Midway. I was hoping that my company would hire somebody fresh and cutting-edge, but I find myself disappointed. I'm a type fiend; I was looking at the type on the ads and am solidly unimpressed. The type decision is not fun (one of the things the ads seem to be attempting to convey) and it's not classy (the other thing the ads are aiming at). In fact, it's one of the most bland type choices you could possibly make. That, and all the ads have a very static arrangement with a photo and then some blocks of color and text in one of the blocks. Nothing to draw your eye, or catch your attention. Perhaps I do not understand, as I am not an art director and am merely a designer. However, I think that I might show the stuff to the design department head and see what he thinks about it. Holy crap. I'm only two quarters in and already I think I know something.

It's a big storm!

2005-07-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm experiencing my first hurricane today! Though I realize this is not exciting for people in, say, Alabama or Florida, I am far up in Atlanta and am therefore rather excited about the weather. Growing up, I saw a fair number of tornadoes, but this is like a really big tornado. Really big and really wet. The street in front of my apartment building filled up with water and all the pine straw that had been laid down to put grass on top of has washed away. They've probably closed off the main entrance to the parking garage due to the small lake that forms there every time it rains. It's probably about two feet deep by now. I looked at the radar and saw that the hurricane reaches all the way out to western Arkansas, which means my parents are even seeing some of this right now. I'm hoping that it clears up by tomorrow, before I have to drive to work on the freeway. I don't like driving in the rain very much, but it's especially bad on Atlanta highways because water doesn't drain very well, and other drivers are idiots. So even though I like sitting in my apartment while it does this, I don't want to deal with it tomorrow. Eh. It probably won't last for much longer than early tomorrow morning, if that long.

Ah, well.

2005-06-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

I finally caved in and bought the Munsters ringer for my cell phone. I was lonely without it. It remains to be seen whether or not I have to keep on using the Vision service to keep the ringer.

I really want to be a famous comic book artist. I think it would rock.

And I want someone to give me an iPod.

Observation:

2005-06-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone with breasts in Atlanta wears flip-flops at least half of the year.

I mean this sincerely along with everything it implies.

2005-06-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dude. I totally forgot that I had a blog for a while there. In the meantime, I beat Jak and Daxter II, and got into the "Post Infrequently" listing of Blue Skies Falling. I was confused until I realized it's been nearly a month since my last post. Oh, well.

I keep trying to convince Sawyer to get his own blog/lj account. He tries to get me to post things about him in mine, and I think he really needs his own.

I got a new job and have been working at it for three weeks now. I'm an administrative assistant for a life insurance agent. I'm seriously intimidated by it, and it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it pays the bills. I'm hoping it'll keep me afloat until I can graduate from design school and get the kind of job I want. I'm open for freelance jobs, if anyone needs them and can pay me something for them (unless they're really super cool - then I might do them for free). I'm really excited about getting to do this for real.

My mom and dad are coming to visit next week. I'm going to have to clean the apartment beforehand; it's a complete wreck.

Rocks.

2005-05-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have a really difficult project to finish right now. I have to make a book for my type class, and I got this great idea to make it about rocks. Basalts, to be specific. I thought that it would be a stupid idea and that I wouldn't get to do it, but my instructor really liked it, so now I'm stuck with it. It is impossibly difficult to create a book about rocks when every rock has to be different and they all have to be basalts. There are loads of them out there, but they look the same unless you get them under a microscope (and even then it's hard to see). So.... yeah.

On the bright side, all the other classes seem to be going well. And my new job starts in a week and a half. I'm in the money soon, I hope. Maybe then we can fix the car.

Warning: self horn-tooting to commence.

2005-05-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Today Sawyer and I had a conversation about nerds. He decided that it was a good thing that he does SCA combat training and learned to crack a whip just in case he has to fend off other nerds. He has a wife who 1. likes comic books 2. likes playing video games 3. likes kung fu films 4. likes tabletop gaming 5. likes crappy horror movies 6. likes Star Wars 7. likes Star Trek 8. likes sci fi 9. likes WWE wrestling and 10. isn't fugly.
Yeah. So the knowing of how to lay the smack down might come in handy someday if another nerd wants to steal me. 'Cause I'm a diamond in the rough.

Note: I am saying all this today because yesterday I had the distinct feeling that I was worthless and it feels very good once in a while to admit that you've got something good going on about you. So there.

Boxes and jars and things.

2005-05-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sawyer is in Cypress right now and I'm feeling decidedly not happy about it. I'm happy for him, but not so happy for me. He's pretty much the only person I hang out with, so with him away, I stay at home a lot and don't get out much. I know people from school, but none of them want to hang out except for when they want to do school stuff with me. Yeargh. I won't whine too much, though. I got a part-time job that starts on Monday. It doesn't pay a lot, but it's really quite brainless and will not cause added stress. I also got a call from another person who might want me to work for them, and it pays better, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to say you're going to work for someone and then go and work for someone else instead before you even start, especially if you've gone through training and all. Maybe I'll call my mom and ask her; she knows these sorts of things.
Hatman comes back in a week. I wish time moved faster.

So sorry.

2005-04-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

That I haven't been posting lately. I went on break and then went back to school and then DOOM hit with the color theory class and I'm still doomed, mostly. It's a very hard class. Right now I'm designing packaging for a hotel's toiletries. I'm making a lot of triangle-shaped things. It's pretty interesting, but difficult to find bottles and boxes that are the correct shape. I think I'm going to have to look online, mostly.

Right. It rained today and I got soaked. Sawyer is going to Cypress in a little less than a week. Yeep.

Gandalf!

2005-04-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

I have a great project right now. In color theory class, we have to redesign a resort's image, based on a celebrity couple and their interests. We drew from a hat and I drew Ian McKellen. This is awesome. So I did some research and found that he has a great website with a blog and everything. Well, sort of a blog. He frequently answers fan email on his website, and has sections of his personal autobiographical writing. All sorts of awesome. I'll link to it so that everyone can go see. Also, I found a great resort for him, as well. It's the Briarcliff hotel in the Lake District of England. It's quiet, "unstuffy", private, fancy, and is in a place he likes to visit. Considering I spent most of today looking for it, I think that I've accomplished quite a bit.

Now I have to develop a program for the hotel to draw in new McKellen business, and in addition I must re-design the hotel's logo, come up with some sample color schemes, and write some sample mission statements.

No pressure...

2005-04-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

Gotta make the posts or Connor will take me off his "Post Frequently" list! No, really... It does give me incentive to post sort of frequently. I check his blog every couple of days or so, both to read the "of the day" posts, and to make sure that I'm posting frequently enough.
It rained like heavenly wrath today, and I think that the possible presence of the divine made people crazier than usual. An 18-wheeler made a right turn from the far left turn lane, into traffic. Luckily, it was raining mightily and everyone was too cautious to cause an accident, but it could have been bad. See? Divine intervention.
Sawyer and I watched Sarsparilla Gorilla today. It's a 10-minute movie made by the guys who work at the video store we rent from. It's like a Troma film paired with the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. It is quite weird. We are told to expect a sequel.
Tomorrow I will sit at home and do homework all day, so that I might cavort at the park this weekend. There's an art festival going on.

It's break time.

2005-03-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

I'm on spring break right now, and I'm feeling really disoriented. I'm so used to worrying about getting all my work done that now that I don't have anything to do, I don't know what to do with myself. So currently I'm surfing the internet, procrastinating about getting a job, and watching Sliders on SciFi. This weekend we went to a really geeky convention full of anime fans. I spent most of the time stalking Jennie Breeden and playing drum-based video games (btw... if you can find a copy of the new Donkey Kong drumming game and have a GameCube, play it. It's loads of fun). It was a free convention, anyhow, so it was alright.

Maybe tomorrow I'll actually do something productive.

Almost there.

2005-03-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of my in-class reviews. I'm nervous about the logos one, but the drawing one isn't stressful at all. I had a really unpleasant dream about my review next week; I dreamed that I went to the review but didn't have all my work to show and hadn't fixed any of it and totally bombed. It was unpleasant. However, real life should be less stressful.

Wooo. I'm almost done! My first quarter of design school!

Oh, dear god.

2005-03-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

I think that my eyeballs are going to fall out. I no longer have to do teensy-weensy type tracings, but finals are next week, and I'm beginning to be stressed again. I just finished a mock-up of a Maori Goat themed bike kit for children ages 5-10, and am currently quite skilled at making little stickers out of that foam stuff that comes in colored sheets at craft stores. And I can make saddle bags for bicycles. Two talents that I'm not sure are entirely marketable, but hey - it never hurts to have extra talents. I also cleaned the bathroom tub, which needed it quite a bit.

Meridith called me on the phone this evening, which was cool. I miss having her about to hang out with. It's been slow going making friends here; I have problems in general finding people I really connect with, and all those who currently fit the description, with the obvious exception of my hubby, are all in Chicago. I'm plotting how this can be remedied, hopefully in the near future.

My head is full of brain.

2005-03-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

The weather here is so finicky, and the air so polluted, that I think I am continuously full of liquid. More or less. On the up side, though, it finally got cold enough that it feels like it might have been winter once. I'm not getting used to this weather as fast as I got used to Chicago. I think that I really do like extreme differences in seasons. I went from two seasons to another two seasons, only these are summer and spring instead of summer and winter.
The construction on the new wing of the apartment building is almost complete. Right now they're testing the fire alarms. The one in our apartment works quite well. Every fifteen minutes or so. I'd go someplace else, but I can't really get anything done if I go someplace else. I'm hoping to get all my homework done for my other classes today, so that this weekend I can finish my product assignment. We have do design something based on our previous poster assignments that can be sold in a gift shop at a zoo or museum. I think I'm going to do a set of bike gear for kids. I had wanted to do a board game, but I just can't finish it before I class monday, so scratch that idea. Yargh.

I have to pee.

Holy shit.

2005-02-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

If I survive this packaging project, I will be awesome. I will also never want to see another sheet of styrene again as long as I live, and perhaps never another goat. Or an X-acto knife. I like to think, though, that if I try really hard on this project and keep it up, then I'll do well in my future endeavors.

Yeah. Maybe I'll post a picture of the finished product once I'm done stenciling it and once it's all assembeled.

Right.

2005-02-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Anyway, Livejournal is being stupid again. It keeps not letting me log in, and though I know this to be untrue, I still feel that I am the only one having this problem. Livejournal is obviously singling me out, just for spite. I know it is.

I have finished many difficult assignments recently, and feel that I have accomplished some small something. I don't really like most of what I've done, but I'm stuck on what I should do next, so I'm going to leave them alone for now. Maybe I'll work on my logo assignment later on this evening. I haven't really been giving it the attention it needs lately. Right now, though, X-2 is on HBO, so I'm going ot watch that instead of doing anything useful. Ooh! And I'll pop popcorn, too. I was going to take a nap, but that never really happens.

I think that the X-Men will provide all the entertainment and rejuvenation I need. Or at least Hugh Jackman will. Oh, yes. He will.

Does anybody want to tell me how to make the menu-thingy on the side of my blog homepage? Anybody? Mxzzy, I know you're really itching to do this... Really.

I think the computer is burning my retinas.

2005-02-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

Or maybe it's not the computer. Maybe it's just the sheer amount of crap I'm involved with on a day-to-day basis. However, I feel that after sitting at my laptop for three hours in a row, I feel much more tired than if I was to draw little doodles on my layout pad or cut bits out of paper. I keep hoping that the real world isn't going to be quite as intense as school, but I have a sinking feeling that it will be. For a few years, at least. Then I'll get a promotion, at about the same time that I decide to have kids and not work at all for a while. I dunno. I'm sure it's all worth it, in the end.

This is the coolest person in Atlanta...

2005-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

He used to live in St. Louis, but had problems with the police (which is stupid, because he's totally harmless).

Go look at the pictures: Baton Bob

He walks around the neighborhood I live in and wears a different costume every time. Today, he was wearing a rain slicker and umbrella hat. I've made it a game to look for him every time I go to class in the afternoon. I hope that he stays here for a while; he makes even the worst of days brighter.

I wonder if somebody sells bumper stickers of Bob...

Some ideas for office mischief...

2005-02-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

I have no office job currently, but after hearing the tales of Meridith and her job, I've been thinking... What, exactly can you get away with before somebody notices? Like, could you put an "a" stencil on the office slut and then mist her with some red liquid (preferably something that doea not wash out regularly) and not get in trouble, provided her habits are well-known enough? Or does the old whoopie-cushion thing actually work? I know it's probably career suicide, but a little part of me really wants to booby-trap a cubicle just to see what will happen. I mean, cubicles are really small, and where are you going to go to avoid the pranks? And if you deserve the prank, you just have to live with it, because if you make a big fuss, everybody is going to know and then you'll look like an idiot.

Maybe after I make a lot of money in the lucrative world of graphic design (ha! right...) I will get a dead-end corporate job I don't care about losing and try these things, as an experiment.

Only after I've paid off the student loans, though.

I Now Make My Internet Stamp

2005-02-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

And how. I told everybody that I wouldn't start up a blog, but I seem to be reading more and more of them lately, and I'm jealous. I keep reading about people being famous from blogs, and though I don't think that will happen to me (I'm not that witty), I do think that maybe somebody might come across it and keep up with it. Probably people I know. Yeah. And then I won't remember to post here any more than the journal. Heh.