Interesting interviews & getting things done.

I interviewed a very cool professor today at my school.

I knew after the interview that I wanted to see more of her work.

I'm glad I did.

Go visit her website.

Her photography is amazing.

I can't begin to go into everything she discussed, and I've yet to go back and replay my tape and listen to the interview. But one thing that really struck me was when she talked about how sometimes photographs can dull a memory of a time.

It reminded me of some of the pictures I have of Amsterdam and Holland, and even some that Paul and I took this summer. The pictures may be beautiful, but it's not nearly as grand and amazing as what I remember it to be in my mind.

* * *

In other news, and thanks to the amazing help Paulie gives me, I finished my take-home math test which is due Monday. I glued down my Garfield project and he will be out of my life come Monday. I wrote a rough draft of my english paper that's due Tuesday.

All I have left to do this weekend is 20 sketches of structures, math homework, and study for an English test on Tuesday.

Yeah, that's *all* I have to do. But really, it's a load off my mind to get Garfield done, and the paper, and the math test. That was my main focus.

Thank you again so much for helping me Paulie! I know I've said it 5 thousand times, but still ..

* * *

My school's women's forum will be creating a women's edition of a publication where students, faculty, staff, and the general public may submit artwork, short stories, etc.

My supervisor thinks that the 3 of us in our office should submit something.

I was unsure of what to submit, but with the help of Paulie I've decided to submit the project I did as my final for my color class I had last quarter. I'm probably going to work with it a little though, tone it down and get rid of the red so it's not so angry, and maybe even cut out the text.

Here it is in it's red, angry form, haha .. :

Self-Portrait, Mixed Media: by Me.

* * *

I don't know. I've looked at last year's edition and I think this might be a little too much for them, even if I change the color or not. But I'm going to submit it anyway.

Virtual Pumpkin Carver

Since it's almost Halloween and all, better get in the mood.

Cleveland in Rain.

Paulie took this picture while he was visiting this summer. It was taken from the mezzanine level of Cleveland Indians baseball stadium. They were playing the Chicago White Sox, and the game had started out with the weather being nice and sunny, and then turned into this.

I was in a mood to make some artistic pics in Photoshop this evening, and I tried to make something with this one, but soon realized that it needs no work done to it to make it look cool.

It's perfect as it is.

Argh.

Well, I *thought* I was almost done with Garfield but noticed some major problems on it today at class. The mean teacher didn't notice however, so I was safe. He didn't go and undo any of my work and I fixed everything on my own when I got home tonight.

So, here's the again *almost* finished project .. I need to do some minor changes on his ears, and fix some pointy places on his person, then soon it will need to be printed out and mounted because it's due Monday. Wish me luck!

Click image to enlarge ..

Practice Safe Sun.

I'm so almost done with the Garfield tracing project! It's not due til next Monday, but here's a *small* sneak peak anyway. It's tiny, but you can click to enlarge.

I've decided I don't really like Adobe Illustrator, but I love Photoshop, so I'm hoping for the next project I'll feel a little more comfortable, having used Photoshop a lot and Illustrator, NEVER. Can't say I'd ever have a need to use it again either .. except maybe for future school projects.

* * *

I have an english paper due soon, on the topic of the question about human exposure to sun.

I've decided to write about how the sun rays can be dangerous, but can also be beneficial if not abused.

I'm going to title it "Practice Safe Sun."

I thought it was clever.



That is all.

That's my shit, that's my shit ..

To quote Gwen Stefani, YES .. this is mine!

The picture circled is a watercolor I did for a class last quarter where we studied color. I turned it into a digital piece to glamourize Blythe dolls, those freaky big-headed, big-eyed, little bodied plastic works of art that are decades old but now popular in Japan, as Neo-Blythes.

Click image to see the site! My painting and other amazing works of art can be found under the gallery section.

If you are interested in buying any of my prints such as this one, or the ones in my Flickr gallery, drop me a line at purepixel@gmail.com and I will provide you with pricing information.

=)

911.

Yesterday in the early morning hours, just about maybe eleven miles from my house, a well-known-around-town-couple were shot. The couple ran a funeral home out of their own home. This is where they were shot, in the comfort of their own home and business.

Not only were they shot, but their house and business was invaded by three large men, the biggest one with black, matted hair. That's the only description given, and frankly, in this town that description doesn't narrow it down any. The fact that they had on dark tshirts and camoflauge pants doesn't narrow it down much either.

The men's race is unimportant, because this could have happened anywhere, to anyone, by any man of any color. Stuff like this happens everyday.

The three intruders wanted the toxic embalming chemical formaldehyde. I suppose that soaking rolling papers in formaldehyde gives a person a rush. But instead of just breaking in and demanding the formaldehyde, they shot the man five times, and shot the woman in the back of the head. The bullet came out of her eye.

That formaldehyde must pack a damn good punch if it's worth trying to kill someone over.

How cracked out does a person have to be to do something like this?

Did they go smoke their formaldehyde soaked joints afterward?

Did they shower? Eat a meal? Watch tv?

What does a person do after doing something so ... horrid. Horrid isn't even the right word.

They are still on the loose.

What was I doing while this was happening? Was I safe in my bed? Was I dreaming of Paulie? Was I awake for a moment, looking at the clock wishing I had more time to sleep?

It's just strange how things can happen so close by .. anywhere, anytime.

Of course this does not make me live in fear, because I can't fear things that haven't happened yet .. and I won't base my life on that. And while I won't live in fear, it is still interesting to think about.

I realize people get killed over drugs everyday, and it used to be a rarity in this town but now is becoming increasingly more common. At least once a week I hear of a meth lab being found. Sometimes mobile meth labs, which I didn't even know existed until recently. I've been told that the show 60 Minutes once named this town the meth capital of the world. I have no resources to back that up, however.

The man and woman are still alive, amazingly. Even in stable, but still serious, condition.

They probably would have died if the neighbors had not heard the shots and called 911.

I'm just intrigued in a negative sense by the whole story. It makes me feel creepy to drive down that street on the way to school. I hope they catch the people involved. Maybe someone around this sometimes hellish little town knows some answers. I'm sure probably lots of people do. This town is full of "undesireables," as my Gramma always puts it. I always laughed at how stupid that term sounded when referring to people .. then I saw the light. It really IS full of undesireables.

People that you wouldn't even want to come and take out your trash for fear they would case your house in the meantime.

Not everyone. But a lot.

* * *

I was driving home from work today. It was about 3pm, broad daylight.

I am on a relatively busy road.

A clunker of a vehicle pulls up beside me at a red light. Two guys inside, maybe high school age or just out of high school. Thuggish.

One starts saying, "Hey .. HEY ... HEY!! Hey I'm talking to you!" trying to get my attention.

I quickly glance to the side, made brief eye contact, but also gave a look that let them know I wasn't playing around.

The red light turned green, and I got up ahead of them a little. They sped up beside me. Again the passenger started the "HEY!" stuff. This time I just stared straight ahead, an obvious sign that I wasn't interested. The driver started to honk his horn, and the passenger tried even harder to get my attention. I made brief eye contact again, and he winked at me.

They then cut me off at a very close range, enough for me to roughly put on my brakes, and the passenger started throwing trash out the window, piece by piece.

I grabbed my cell phone, and just as I was about to call 911 on them for reckless endangerment, they sped off the next exit.

It wasn't 911 worthy, it wasn't an emergency. As Paulie said, 911 probably wouldn't have even sent someone to respond.

Now that I work at a job where we do news releases, and with a woman who is a local radio personality, I hear a lot of things. A lot of things have happened here just in the past few weeks.

It's enough to make me program the police's number into my cell phone for those non-911 moments, and just hope it's a number I never have to dial.

They need help too.

Click Image to Play.

For those who are audio sensitive, turn down sound.

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
- Gandhi

Nostalgia.

I was talking to Paulie while I was at work today, and he was going back and reading our old emails we sent to each other, which .. they are "old" as in, it's been nearly a year now that we've been together.

So when I got home, I decided I really wanted to go back and read some too.

It's just really cool to look back and see how far we've come, how much we've done together, and how through it all, we've just become so much closer, which is hard to believe sometimes, haha .. because we were so close to begin with.

I'll spare putting snippets of the emails here, because that's personal and just for us ..

but it makes me really happy, and really emotional too, to go back and read them.

We've been through rough times and we've made it through them while still being there for each other, and good to each other. I've just seen so many times where couples go through hard things together and it tears them apart, or they start being mean to each other. And I just could never imagine it being that way for us.

And could never imagine there being a day without Paulie in it.

There was a time very early in our relationship when we talked about and asked ourselves if this was just a phase, or puppy love, or things of that nature .. and now look what it's become .. it's just amazing.

I know I've talked about him, and us .. a lot in the past few days .. but how can I help from it? He's the greatest =) and I love him so much.

So, gag and puke if you will .. but it's how I feel.

In just a couple of days it will be our 11 month anniversary. I have to think of something BIG! And since Paulie reads this, he'll know I'm trying to think of something big so maybe it won't be a surprise .. but that's ok, I don't mind =)

O Happy Day

* Spilled ginger ale down the front of my hoodie on the way to school

* Spilled water in my car

* Couldn't get the shell off of my hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, ended up throwing the whole thing in the trash because it was just .. the yellow part. Blech.

* Spilled water again in drawing class, down the back of my drawing pad

* Forgot to put a battery in the digital camera I had to take to do my interview for a lady going from this little town down to Baton Rouge to help the hurricane victims (luckily the lady didn't want her picture made anyway, so I was lucky there)

* Had to walk a block or so to a museum visit during drawing class, got all sweaty

* Went to English class after that, got too cold because of the a/c

* Got home, worked on digital art project, saved it (or thought I did .. )

* It didn't save, so I lost about an hour or maybe two hours worth of work

BUT ...

I got to see Paulie, talk to him, laugh with him ..

and that's all that I look forward to ... makes my day worthwhile.

Not to mention how much he helped me with my project ..

and how much he helps me with *everything* under the sun!

I love you Paulie, so much! Just wanted to tell the world, yet again ;)

My colloquial Dutch lesson will come in handy!

Next week I will be interviewing and writing an article on a new social sciences professor at my school. She is Dutch.

She is not new to America, she received her Ph.D. from a school in Las Vegas. However, she IS new to this little town I live in, and I'm wondering what a trip that is for her. I can't wait to hear.

I emailed her to ask if I may be the one to interview her, and she responded very nicely saying "Yes! Ofcourse you may interview me!" .. and I was glad for that, because sometimes people I ask to interview can be real assholes about it.

So, I wonder what she'll say when I greet her with, "Goede middag, Dr. Balsam! Ik ben Stephanie. Hoe is het? Leuk om jou te ontmoeten. Welkom in *censored for anonymity* University .. "

Haha, no I wouldn't say all that, and I'm not even sure if it's all correct, I'd have to run it by Paulie first! ... but I can at least get out the good afternoon and my name is Stephanie without problem, and maybe the welcome part .. and perhaps end the interview with a "Bedankt! Dag!"

Anything else, nope .. not that far .. yet!

SmallVille

Yesterday at the gym, I biked as usual. They have a bike that you sit on and it has arms, like a chair .. much easier on the back than the bikes where you sit upright. I biked for an hour on the Random Hill level. To my surprise, it would have taken me another hour to finish the course .. must ride faster next time!

A girl on a bike beside me talked on her cell phone for 30 minutes straight about her wedding. Then her husband beeped in. And it went a little something like this:

Him: Hey babe.
Her: Hey hon.
Him: You about done?
Her: I have 3 minutes to go.
Him: Hmm, you at the gym?
Her: Yeah.
Him: Hmm, what are you wearing?
Her: Uhh, white shirt, gray shorts.
Him: Are you wearing your sports bra?
Her: Yes ...
Him: Mmmmm ..

At that point, I was gagging.

I guess people don't realize that on cell phones, normally when you are within earshot of the person holding the phone, you can still hear both parties talking .. because people on cell phones tend to talk much louder than regular phones.

Anyhow, it made me sick. Plus, who the hell talks on a cell phone while they are working out? Hello?!

On the way home from the gym, I saw two little boys who were probably not any older than 8 or 9, smoking.

I also saw a Mexican driving a car, and he could barely see over the steering wheel. I *swear* to you, his face was peeking at me from just under the top of the wheel.

I couldn't believe it.

For a moment I wondered if I'd slipped into some strange twilight zone ..

then I remembered, nope .. it's just the lovely town I happen to live in at the moment. That's just how things .. and people .. are here.

Ah well. Back to my regularly scheduled cup of decaf green tea.

Good GOD.

I'm mentally exhausted.

I just finished writing a 3 page paper on why the war in Iraq has been unsuccessful.

How can you condense *so* many reasons into 3 pages?!

It's possibly the hardest paper I've ever had to write, simply because of its size limit.

Give me maybe a 5-10 page limit, I'm good to go, because there is so much info to sift through ...

.. but THREE?

It's just too broad a topic.

I did the best I could, but I think what I wrote royally sucks.

We'll see I guess.

Mmmmm .. Chai tea.

Celestial Seasonings teas are SO good. I've never met a brand of their teas that I didn't like .. who could turn down a tea like Sleepytime? Tension Tamer? Honey Peach Ginger? Mint Magic? Bengal Spice? (ok, maybe Paulie, because he's not a big fan of tea .. =)

While I wish I could have a private stock collection of each & every tea they've ever made, I can't. Nor can I afford to.

Celestial Seasonings has a good line of chai teas, which the India spice one happens to be my favorite ..

But store-bought chai is nothing compared to a homemade chai. You can doctor it up with all the milk and honey you like, but it just doesn't compare. If you've never tasted a really good long brewed chai tea, you are missing something so good.

Chai is a centuries-old recipe of black tea, usually made up with heavy milk, various spices, and a little sweetener (although I'm not fond of the sweetener .. you can ditch it or just add a little for taste)

The first time I had homemade chai tea was when I lived in Tennessee. My aunt had a party and someone brought a pitcher. I thought it looked like a strange colored milk, and I wasn't about to try it. However, I did try it, and after one cup, I was hooked. I wanted more but the pitcher was drained within minutes. Everyone else at the get-together loved it too.

It isn't the easiest tea to make and it's a little time consuming, but once finished, you'll be glad you took the time.

Moon Chai

• 10 pieces of ginger, 1-inch
• 4 cinnamon sticks, broken
• 1 tsp green cardamom pods
• 2 1/4 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp cloves, whole
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp licorice root
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 5 cups water
• 3 tbs honey
• Milk, to taste

Combine everything except milk and honey in a saucepan. Cover pot and simmer 45 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let sit another 45 minutes (covered.) Strain out the spices, and add the milk and honey as desired.

My new phone.

This is my new phone, a Nokia 3120. Nothing fancy about it, but I do have the ringtone of Eminem's song "Puke" on it .. pretty proud of that.

I'm at work right now. Fridays are dead around here. I'm alone in the office until 2pm, and since there are no classes on campus, it's really hard to get in touch with professors and staff about interviews we need to do, or questions I need answered.

So I blog, work on my English paper, and wait for Paulie. =)

Fluent Sap on ... Michael Moore.

So my essay on Moore hasn't been officially graded, but I can't think of anything else to post right now.

I'm tired. I've been working and writing so much for my job, going to classes, coming home and talking to Paulie as much as possible (because he's the best boyfriend in the world), and let's not forget studying, working out, and whatever else I can fit in.

I read that Michael Moore may already be starting on a documentary concerning Katrinagate. Should be interesting.

The essay is all centered in MLA style, but I tried to make it easier to read. I am too lazy to clean it up and make it look pretty. I'll let you know what kind of grade I get on it.

* * *
Michael Moore’s Battle

When asking any voting American how they feel about the controversial author and filmmaker Michael Moore, it comes as no surprise to receive a barrage of multi-faceted answers. The general American public either loves him or hates him, with little or no grey area in between. However, for a man to ethically and powerfully expose his views of America, while concurrently searching for truth and solutions to better the country, deserves a special kudos for his efforts.
Moore has been referred to by some as a hater of America due to his politically charged documentaries “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine.” Upon visiting Moore’s official website, michaelmoore.com, it is evident that he does care for America greatly, while simultaneously expressing his outrage at the costly failings of American leadership. The website shows that Moore’s interests include subjects such as helping the soldiers in Iraq and making donations to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. A hater of America would not go to such lengths to assist the less fortunate and try to make the country a better place to live.
Moore is also considered controversial because of his stance against President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. From this he has been labeled as a liberal extremist. On the other hand, when a country has only two political parties to choose from, one will always be against the other in many ways. The method Moore takes to express his stance is his right, according to the first amendment of our nation’s Declaration of Independence: that all Americans have the right to free speech.
In an article in Rolling Stone magazine, Peter Travers states, “There’s no discounting the power of Moore’s ferocious, cathartically funny film. It’s the highest grossing documentary in movie history, and oddsmakers claim it may become the first documentary ever to be Oscar Nominated for Best Picture. What makes it great is the way Moore indicts hypocrisy across all party lines. The film’s theme? Political expediency and who gets to die for it. Watch the scene in which Moore rallies members of Congress to get their own children to enlist in the Iraq war …” (Travers 114-144.)
Moore was named one Essence magazine’s Men of the Year in 2004. Writer Pamela K. Johnson states that Moore is, “one smart, courageous, filmmaking White guy, who we know has our back” (Johnson 175).
Moore, a man who likes to rile people up socially and politically, should not be discredited at first glance. He is an excellent researcher, author, and filmmaker who simply searches for the truth in a world where honesty is not the easiest attribute to find. The way he expresses himself harms no one, but only serves to open the eyes of those that may be searching for those same truths.

Jill of All Trades.

Ok, I figure it's time to have a laugh and marvel at all the jobs I've held in my lifetime.

I've put together this comprehensive list so we can all have a giggle and wonder how and why I packed so many jobs into such a short amount of time. Well, I guess it wasn't *that* short. I started working at age 19, and that was about 10 years ago now.

That's another story .. I had good reasons for leaving some of them. Very good reasons, as you'll see from the types of businesses they were (fast food and convenience store jobs SUCK .. not to mention cleaning up after hotel guests ) .. Anyway, here goes.

Laugh it up.

1) Mark Pi's Express - chinese fast food restaurant, cashier
2) B.P. Oil - Assistant manager
3) Tommy's Pizza - morning prep cook
4) United Dairy Farmers - convenience store, assistant manager
5) Subway - sanwich artist, assistant manager
6) Lil Champs - convenience store, shift manager
7) Knights Inn - housekeeper
8) Atlantis Motel - housekeeper
9) World of Science - seasonal (only open during Xmas), salesperson
10) Rack Room Shoes - salesperson
11) Disc Jockey - music & entertainment store, seasonal, salesperson
12) Captain D's - shift manager
13) Taco Bell - assitant manager
14) GC Services - collections representative
15) Hyatt Regency hotel - housekeeper
16) Cendant corportation - hotel reservations/account representative for insurance policies
17) 2 housekeeping jobs while in Holland, but not hotels, actuall houses
18) and currently, communications specialist (I write news articles), and also notetaker for my math class (share math notes with other students)

As you can see, 16-18 showed quite an improvement in the kind of work I was doing.

I only hope the one(s) to follow get better & better.

So, I'll just be over in MathLand.

I'm taking basic college algebra & geometry this quarter, combined into one class.

The first day I was so lost .. before Paul helped me with some homework.

Anyway, I told my aunt how hard the class was and that I was already lost in just the 2nd week ..

and she said, "Well, just imagine that you are going to MathLand, and you have to learn the language ... so you go and learn the numbers and formulas so you'll be able to speak fluently when you arrive in MathLand .. "

haha ..

Paulie said it was a real pothead way of looking at it.

As far as I know, my aunt doens't smoke pot though, haha.

My first math quiz is Thursday ..

wish me luck!

Recent sketches.

These are just a few of the 20 sketches I did over the weekend for my drawing class.

I've definitely evolved a little in my drawing skills, but not much. I just hope to keep improving.

The one of my foot really does look a lot like my foot, haha .. I was surprised!

For now we're just doing line drawing .. no shading yet. I've never done shading before (except when working with color) .. so it will be different for me.

I made some rough-draft logos for PurePixel-Designs.com this evening so Paul and I can start giving our site a makeover and show what we can really do as designers. It's going to take a lot of work though, and right now .. we don't have a lot of time between us to work on it.

I'm glad because I got so much done this weekend. My math homework (thanks to Paulie), some of my digital arts project, all of my sketches, and my paper on Michael Moore (which I'll post after it's been graded.) All that and had time to work out on Saturday morning and walk this evening, and still talk to Paulie (! That's the greatest!)

It doesn't feel like tomorrow should be Monday though. And my long day at that. Blah.

This one's for Paulie.

He'll understand why.

"Love is friendship set on fire" - Jeremy Taylor