Dream 3

Last night I dreamed that I went to a maze, like people would pay to get in and then whoever got out fastest might get a prize or something. Sort of like those haunted houses in the west bottoms. Denise paid for me to get in. We went in and I thought we should go a different way from all the other people so we wouldn't all be looking in the same place. I was in a group of about 5 or 6 people. We went down several floors, and it was darkish and concrete like a basement, but with lots and lots of rooms.

We eventually found a device like a small room where you walked in and someone on the outside turned it and an opening to a tunnel would appear on the other side. Angel, from the TV show, said that he wished there wasn't so much noise. (I didn't think it was noisy, so I guessed it was his sensitive vampire ears.) Another girl and I were small enough to go through the opening so we did. We crawled through the tunnel a bit. It went straight forward, and it was like being inside a big concrete tube, round and low enough not to be able to stand, but tall enough not to feel claustrophobic. It wasn't dark, but there weren't any lights either. We came up to a doorish thing, where the tunnel we were in intersected with another tunnel. The new tunnel was circular, in that it curved away down both sides so you couldn't see very far.

Then there was some kind of monster thing attacking me from the left, and I tried to retreat through the door and get the other girl to help me close it. The monster thing was poking at me with a staff with a blade on the end, and the blade was shaped like an x-acto blade, only much larger, longer than a foot. It wasn't missing, but I wasn't getting cut either. I think we got the door closed, and I thought that we didn't get very far.

And that's it. The alarm clock prevented me from knowing how it all turned out. This one was pretty original, often my dreams feel familiar. I used to have the same dream more than once sometimes, or have more than one dream happen in the same dream location.

I didn't

Nothing interesting has happened in the last couple of days. Instead of writing about what I did, I'll write about what I didn't do.

I didn't buy a pony.
I didn't eat steak.
I didn't clean the house.
I didn't convert lead to gold.
I didn't shave my head.
I didn't learn how to eat fire.
I didn't order "wings" from Pizza hut at 9:30 at night for no good reason other than I felt like eating something unhealthy.

Shit, wait- I did the last one.

prehensile brain

Today I designed Donald a Prehensile Brain for his blog banner. I was going to make a whole banner, but he said he can do the rest with CSS. I think it's kinda cute in that macabre, Pythonesque way. I love the photoshop, and I love the pictures I swiped from the internet. In case you wanted to know, the spine part took about 25 layers to make. My spine source picture was curved the wrong way, as spines do, so it took a lot of copying, resizing, transforming, and a fair amount of skewing.

If I knew how to make an animated GIF, I'd make one of it walking with the tail curling as it steps. It'd have a rough time though, with no knees, poor lil' guy.

bored

I hate the feeling that I should be doing something useful. Meanwhile, I'm not even doing anything, but looking at web pages or something. I could be doing something useless, but entertaining, but instead I'm lying on my living room floor examining the plaster patterns on the celing. (for example) I should read a book, but I don't feel like starting one.

At least yesterday I had entertainment. In the afternoon, I went to the Eddie Bauer store to exchange or return my broken travel umbrella. They gladly exchanged it, no problem. It's a very cool umbrella, as it collapses into a little case about the size of a big sunglass case. Very portable, and handy for travel.

In the evening, after helping Chrissy navigate to Westport, (:D) Robyn and I met Chrissy and Charlie to eat food and see the Aristocrats. I laughed very very hard. I think I heard more dirty language last night than I've heard in an entire year. A good time was had by all.

I wasn't thinkin' 'bout my doorbell ringin', until it did.

I woke up this morning to the doorbell at 8am. My first thought is of course, who the hell is ringing my doorbell a 8 friggin' am? It rang again. I got out of bed, put some clothes on, and went to the door. It was my mom. Dad had called her and asked her to come by because we hadn't put our trash out, which he observed as he left for work. He told her we'd forgotten it last week too. I put the trash out myself last week, at 7:10 am, just after Donald left for work. But thanks for your help, dad. :P So I took the trash out, and went back to bed. Normal people might have called me on the telephone, but there's my mom at 8am, in her raincoat with an umbrella, on my doorstep. My family is silly.

I got back into bed, fluffed up my pillow and laid down. Immediately, there was a cat in my face, tickly whiskers on my nose. I tried to roll over, but as I did, she burrowed under the sheet, and purring loudly, curled up next to my belly. Yep, the cat and I were spoonin'. It was damned cute, and prevented me from getting out of bed before 10. There are worse ways to spend a morning.

Good god, it just rang again, and it was my mother again. This time though, she did try to call, but my cell phone battery had run out. Bah.

I love me some Strongbow

I just got back from O'Dowds. Sean and I went there for happy hour goodness. I had 1 (one) delicious Strongbow and now I'm all loopy. So this is as close as it gets to drunken blog posting.

that is all.


whee!

Poof!

Every now and then, I accidentally sneak up on the cat. This results in her tail going poof and her back making a mohawk. It's always funny. She looks very startled, as I laugh at her and pick her up.

I ran around and got stuff done today. I went to Admin and dropped off payment for school. I went to the bookstore and wrote down all the books for Felicia's class. I went to the library and got some of the books. I'm auditing the class, so I'm not enrolled and I won't be doing any tests or papers, but I figured that I may as well learn something while I can. Then I walked back home, borrowed a car, and went to the public library and grocery store.

Classes have started. It doesn't feel like it because I'm not actually in any. I don't really feel good about this year. I wonder if this feeling will go away eventually? I'm already kind of on autopilot, going to find books and pay for classes. It's pretty damned weird to shell out nearly $2700 and not be in any classes. It's so lovely that about $300 of that is fees for stuff I don't use. Ugh. What exactly am I paying for? This really is stupid, when I think about it. I guess I shouldn't think about it.

Oriented?

Today was orientation. Same shit every year, we all sit and listen to blah blah blah for a couple hours, then go over to the theater to have some free sammiches for lunch. This year is going to suck. I know I say that every year, but this year 2 of my friends have moved far far away. The new kids are, well... new. And I just don't feel like dealing with the same old crap again.
I'm looking forward to the things I'll be designing... mostly. I found out today that the musical is Pippin. Ugh. Sigh. I hate Pippin, and I hate its crappy songs that get stuck in my head. We have our first scheduling meeting Monday night, and I'm going to do my best not to get dumped with crap just because I'm the only third year.

Yesterday I worked on the light plot more. It's in a good place, and I can finish it tomorrow. It's kind of tough, becuase the space has lots of circuits (places to plug in lights) and lots of channels (things that control the lights through the computer) but very few dimmers. ( the things that physically control the electricity flowing into the lights.) (goes in between the other 2.) So it is taking some brain crunching. Usually, this process takes MUCH longer.

Donald and I watched Mallrats tonight. There are a lot of damned funny things in that movie. Jason Lee always cracks me up.

Robyn and I went shoppin' yesterday. It was fun, although every time we turned around somehow an hour was gone. It was nice to get out, and we had a good time. Then Donald met us after work, and we went to Outback to cure our steak cravings.

Today I did some errands, and went to a production meeting for Killer Joe. Turns out that we're going to hang lights SUNDAY and I got a set drawing TODAY. This is kinda stupid, as I've been asking for the set drawing for awhile now. So I worked on that tonight.

Idiot drivers piss me off. I was turning left into the theater parking lot, when stupid guy nearly creams me turning left out of the parking lot. Guess who has right of way, jackass? Not you! Ugh.

Time traveling to May

I never got any pictures up from our NYC trip, so here goes.
Here are a couple good old arm's length self portraits of Donald and me. The first one is on the plane on the way there. It was a very small plane, even I hit my head sometimes.

We took this one after we'd bought our play tickets. We enjoyed a sit down and observed the pigeons, which Donald refers to as "rats with wings." Somehow, I don't think pigeons spread plague, but what the hell.


Here we are on the set of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The props master was kind enough to give us a backstage tour. That was a major highlight of the trip for all of us, I think.



The theater was the Longacre, on 48th St.







Here we are eating in a Japanese restaurant. Victor and Temishia didn't fit in the picture, but I assure you they were there. I loves me some Japanese food. I don't know if I can get any here, but I should find out.


Our last night, we got us some authentic New York cheesecake. It was damn good, and very rich, so we shared. I also had a cappucino. The restaurant was Lindy's, and we sat outside on the patio, enjoying the weather.


This is a very detailed Tiffany glass window in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Donald and I only spent about 3 hours there, and we probably didn't even see 1/4 of the place. We'll probably go back next year. There is also a beautiful Tiffany fountain, and it's all irridescent. I wanted to take it home, but Donald said no.






Here's Central Park. I guess New Yorkers actually go to the park on the weekends, because it was packed. It makes sense though, they don't have yards like here in K.C. And it's a very nice park.



P.S. Trying to get pictures to format nicely is a big pain in the ass. That is all.

8mpx, and this is why

Here are 2 pictures I printed today, from Good and Measure for Measure. They are on 13x19 photo paper. You guys know how big that table is. These pictures look AWESOME. I'd like to thank the department for blowing $2400 for 3 printers, that I can use to print the biggest damn show pictures ever. Oh yes.

A new week

Finally, I feel well enough that feeling like crap isn't the only thing on my mind. With any luck, I'll be all better again in a couple days.

The weekend was mainly uneventful, which was a good thing. Donald and I went to eat at D'Bronx in Crown Center Saturday afternoon, which was fun. We had pizza, and then bought a half dozen bagels from the bagel store to bring home. We watched them making fudge in the fudge shop and got a taste. After the show that night we went to Muddy's and read.

Yesterday we got some Kin Lin, and ate after I did my dimmer check. Turns out that yesterday was photo call, and I didn't know. I think someone will give me copies of digitals. If they don't, it's no big deal.

Today's forecast: sneezing

My throat hurts less today. Last night, I decided if it didn't feel better this morning I was going to go to the doctor. It was very painful to swallow. Donald and I looked on the internet and determined that my tonsils are giving me trouble. I called Student Health yesterday afternoon, but they were booked up and not open again until Monday. I'll probably go Monday.

To the right is the cake I made for my sister's birthday Thursday. My mom baked the cakes, and I took it from there. It's made from two 9" round layers, about an inch thick. I tried some blue spray food coloring on the sunset, which is okay but I won't try it again. Those are chocolate chips for the coconuts, I used a knife to shave off the pointy top part and make them round. That was my mom's clever idea. Playing with icing is fun, although it was kind of hard not to cough on the cake while I worked.

Less sick

Feeling cranky. Merely one week left before the grind starts up again. Got a plot to do, and no set drawings for Killer Joe. Got no residency. Got no motivation, and things to do. Being sick doesn't help with the cranky.

still sick

This is really the best way to spend the last few days before school starts.

I spent all of yesterday battling heat rash. If my body thinks I'm too warm, it makes hives, generally on my knees, elbows, ankles and wrists. I put an ice pack on them and wait for them to go away. Trying to stay cool yesterday was not easy. Donald and I went downtown so he could go get a tax waiver for this car taxes. We went back home, and I put ice on. An hour later, we headed to 40 highway for his root canal. This might be the one time yesterday I wasn't hot. The waiting room is freezing.

Back home, more ice, and a nap. That's about it the rest of the day. We sat around on the couch, and I'd get up and get ice. The worst time was bedtime, where I couldn't sleep, feeling both hot, and cold. I got up at 2am for more ice, and took a benadryl. I guess it helped, because I slept. This sucks.

sick

Today I woke up with new symptoms, on top of yesterday's. It hurts to swallow, and I'm a little phlegm-y. I also woke up with hives, but those are because I was too warm and therefore unrelated to the other stuff. To get rid of them I merely have to apply an ice pack and wait a bit. This can't be all evil poison comic books. They must have weakened me, to let their evil germ friends in.

Yesterday I went and made use of the large printers. I had no luck with getting anything to print large, but had great success printing normal 8 1/2 x 11 pictures. They look really nice. I was trying to use 11 x 17 paper, but it looked awful. Black wasn't black, and I tried several settings with no more success. I'm thinking it's maybe the paper. My home printer is quite nice, but this one is so much better. It should be, at about 8 times the cost of mine. I eventually stopped printing because I was almost out of paper, hungry, and had to pee.

I went to the grocery store, and when I got home I took a nap for a couple hours. Donald got home, and we went to Chipotle to cash in a free burrito coupon. Then we went across to the library to see if any of the dvd's I requested came in. One had, so we watched the first disc of season 6 of Sex and the City last night. And of course Donald played more kotor 2. We are so hooked.

*hack hack*

As I was putting comics away yesterday, I was doing some that had been in my bedroom at home, and had therefore absorbed the basement funk. It made my lungs feel crappy. In my continuing mission to get rid of crap and clean out my old room, whenever I spend time down there I feel like this. Now, I wasn't even IN the damned basement, I merely spent a bit of time with objects FROM the basement. This sucks, because I have to consider that every single thing still left in my old room is all basement-y and not suitible for human contact. Or at least my contact.

I thought that when I got up this morning it would be gone, but my lungs still feel like crap, and if makes me want to cough when I breathe deep. So I obviously won't be reading these comics ever again, and now the question is what to do with them. Put 'em in a box, okay. (For those interested, the comics in question are the full run of Dazzler. Go ahead and laugh.)

I could drink some more tea, but it didn't help last night. :(

daily report

I was a little productive today. I went and got a key to the computer lab so I can use the large scale printers. I plan to print pictures for my portfolio, including some in 11x17. I feel that they will stand out when I present my portfolio, and thus people will hire me and give me money in exchange for work. Also, the concept of printing lovely pictures with ink I didn't have to buy on an $800 printer makes me very pleased. I came home and downloaded drivers onto my laptop for said expensive-ass printers. I also went to the bank, to deposit the checks my mom wrote to pay Donald and me back for the bail money. Hee hee. It's still funny. I tidied up some, washed some dishes, and spent some time putting comics into bags with boards. When Donald got home we made dinner. We had breaded baked fish, (frozen, from a bag) broccoli, (frozen, from a bag) and mashed potatoes. (instant, from a box) So it was half assed cooking, but a fairly tasty dinner.

Yesterday Robyn and Jim and Donald came to watch the show. I think they had a good time, and after we went to the coffeehouse. I had a good time, and it was nice to see Jim. It sucks that we're all spread out now. It's pretty much impossible to get everyone together, especially now that Joe's off in Army land. Stupid real life.

doodles

Hooray for photoshop again! Please note shiny new banner, I did it all by myself, and even got it into the page. Sweet.




Thumbnails of a cartoony Anna and a coffee shop doodle

Board op grind

I get here an hour and a half before the show starts, do a dimmer check for five minutes, and then wait an hour until house opens. This is totally okay if you're on the clock. Sadly, I'm not getting paid hourly. All in all this thing is cool though. The people are all cool, and they all seem pleased with what I've done. That's always good, I made 5 directors happy. Professionally, now I just wait to see if any of this will help me get jobs in the future.

A funny thing happened today. I got a call from my dad. He needed $600 in cash, to bail someone out of jail. But wait, there's more! Dad got a call from his friend, a retired colleague. The friend is out of town, and his son needs to be bailed out. I went to middle school and high school with the son, so this is particularly amusing to me. My parents, being of a different banking generation, don't have debit cards, and can't get $600 in cash when the bank is closed. So they call me. Donald and I were downtown at the time. Donald tells me that we can get $300 each, our daily limit. So we find an ATM, and then wait around downtown for dad to arrive and collect our $600 cash. Sitting downtown, with $600 in cash. I told dad to tell the guy I said "you're welcome." If only I still talked to anyone from high school, who knew the guy, and would find this as funny as I do.

two performances down

This one went mostly smoothly. 6 more to go. Stayed up way too late playing video games. Now to sleep.

Field in Dream

I dreamed that Robyn and I went to observe a dance class. We were in a studio, observing, but the dance teacher wasn't playing any music, and the dancers were all kids. She had a radio station on low, and there didn't seem to be any specific choreography. I said to Robyn that the dancers would surely have an easier time counting if the teacher turned the radio off. Robyn thought that was pretty funny.

Then, instead of being in a dance studio, we were outside in a big field. I was bored, and I thought I could see across the field that anna had gotten out of the car. I went towards the car (which was my mom's, and to the east about half a block) and instead headed north, along this big wall. The field was lower than the parking lot so there was a fence at the top of a stone wall on the parking lot side. Kinda like an area in Kotor, but on the other side the field just kept on going. The wall curved back and forth around towards the north for about a city block. Big field.

When I got around to the end of the wall, there was a small u-shaped area and I could see a cat. I petted her once, decided she had some kind of bugs, and decided to play with her at a distance. She was the same size as Anna, but with the coloring of Chloe, although with more orange than gray. Sitting in the grass, she acted like Anna, with her tongue out. She looked like she wanted to play, so I picked some tall grass (About 3' tall) to use as a toy. As I wiggled the grass behind a tree and she pounced on it, my mom called over the side of the fence and told me that I shouldn't get too far away, because someone could kidnap me. Then she said that we had to go soon, because someone had called her about furniture insurance.

I woke up about 10 minutes ago, and Anna is currently warming my lap, no bugs, the proper color.

Off.

I took yesterday off, mentally. I woke up at 10:30 feeling like crap, stiff all over and with a headache. I was stiff because I spent Tuesday morning climbing up and down a scaffold as a one-person light crew. (I have managed to scrape both elbows on that p.o.s. scaffold.) I did my internet stuff, ate breakfast, and took a shower, then basically went back to sleep until somewhere around 3. When I got up, the headache was mostly gone, and I felt less like crap. Considered doing something useful, decided against it and played Kotor 2 for a few hours. Ate dinner about 6, went to the theater at 6:30 for the dress rehearsal.

We started the run about 7:30, and my shiny blind spot started soon after. Completely seperate from the fact that this can precede the blinding pain of a migraine, it's really frikkin hard to check light levels when there's a shiny blotch obscuring your vision. Thank you brain, for preventing me from DOING MY JOB. Not to mention the sensitivity to light that is one of my side effects. The shiny went away by about 8, and I gradually felt crappier. Hooray side effects! I somehow knew it wouldn't turn into a full migraine, and it didn't. At intermission I took some advil and got a caffeinated drink. (Caffiene makes the blood vessels in your brain expand) I maintained the rest of the night, but again, hard to concentrate on doing my job with the nausea and dull pains.

We finished our run, and I was all set to get the hell out of there, but we still had to have notes and such. By then the nausea was less, and I felt jittery. All typical effects. Then we had to strike the scaffold. Let me just say thank you, nice actor guys, for taking down that ridiculously solid platform. I sure couldn't have handled it at the time. I went down the hall to open the door to store the scaff pieces, and when I got back they nearly had the whole thing apart. These are nice people I working with. Thank you, nice actor people.

Donald came to get me, and he managed to get in despite the fact that (I'd forgotten) all the doors were locked. (Sorry again, dear.) When I got home, I heated up my hot pack, put it over my eyes and lay on the bed. After a few moments I heard a "mrr" and something was standing on my chest sniffing the hot pack. Then the something laid down next to my leg. My cat is so sweet. I woke up today about 9:30, and I feel much better.