strangers

i just finished my first art sale to a stranger. i've sold plenty of my creations, but always to friends and family. i frequently go to familiar houses and see my work, but have never had to deal with it going to a house where i will most likely never see it again. i know my prints will be loved and appreciated, but this is a new and extremely foreign feeling of separation. i'm going to have to get used to it.

farewell to a faithful friend

i have bid adieu to a steadfast and faithful friend. after a series of bizarre health problems, i came to the difficult conclusion that i needed to cut caffiene out of my diet. so two weeks ago i went cold turkey. now i have my cup of tea in the morning (i know, there's still caffiene, but not as much) and that's it. tea is actually turning out to be a much more interesting friend than coffee ever was.

cacti

i admit that i am a bit addicted to collecting cacti and succulents. today was the annual spring plant sale at the huntington library, and it is oh-so-easy to get carried away and spend a ridiculous amount of money on plants. but this year i was good. i only bought seven plants. the grand total of the collection is now 89 different cacti and succulents. when does it stop being a hobby and start being just plain scary?

Moby!

i just got back from the moby show. wow. he has so much energy, and his knowledge of music and creative abilities are incredibly humbling. he's just so cool. i want to give him a big hug and take him home and drink tea and play scrabble with him.

tatoooooo

i went to sid's in santa ana last night and got my third tattoo. it's always such a fight of conflicting emotions. i've been wanting this for two years, and i know i want it, but still the weight of the fact that it is now covering half my back FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE can be a bit frightening. i'll just be glad when its done healing and it doesn't hurt to lean back against things anymore.

portland

i am once again being seduced by the siren-song of the pacific northwest. i didn't get into graduate school and my parents are moving, and i haven't been as content in myself since i lived in portland. i don't know if i can make it work, especially since i'm working on getting rid of credit card debt and it is so hard to make much money up there. i'm extremely tempted, though.

mother's day

the holiday celebrating mothers is coming up, and i'm trying to find the perfect gift that says, 'i love you mom, but it won't keep me from going to san diego to see moby instead of spending the day with you.' maybe tulips....

acceptance

after my recent flurry of rejection, it was nice to get an acceptance letter today. it was only an entry for the juried show at the national orange show in san bernardino, but its still acceptance. who knows, i could possibly even win 400 bucks.

dinner

i went out with the girls tonight and we had a progressive fast-food dinner. drinks at del taco, appetizers at pick up stix, main course at jack in the box, and dessert at cold stone. the best of all worlds. way too many calories, but all kinds of fun.

spring cleaning

my parents and i have spent the last few weekends doing some major spring cleaning. i wish i could say that this is a regular thing and we are just doing what we always do, but the only reason we've gotten serious about it is that they want to put the house on the market. there are things we've been meaning to do for YEARS, but have only gotten around to now because we have to. and people wonder why i'm the world's biggest procrastinator....

GMP

all of yesterday and half of today at work i sat in a training room and learned about things like microbial contamination, consent decrees and FDA regulations, among other things. it was interesting in a 'huh, i wonder if i will ever need this information for any reason other than this job' kind of way. (GMP is FDA jargon - Good Manufacturing Practice)

high five!

high five, everyone! i got my last grad school rejection over the weekend! that makes 4 for 4. my friends are all pretty weirded out that i'm high five-ing them over universal rejection, but if i don't stay upbeat about it, i'm just gonna get all overly depressed and maudlin about it. its not the end of the world, just an elongation of my 5 year plan.

riversiiiiide

this place sucks my will to live. i'm now a temp doing data entry and making copies all day and i feel like i've joined the ranks of lifeless zombies living from paycheck to paycheck. i could never do this for any extended period of time. i just don't feel like doing anything between the times i'm at work under those florescent lights, sitting beside the woman who laughs like a chipmunk.

ick

i have discovered that it is extremely easy to get used to not having to pay sales tax, and yet extremely difficult to get used to having to pay it again. weird.

adieu

today was my last day in portland. *sigh* my summer hiatus has been all too short. i had a great time at my jobs and hanging out with great people. there are so many things i will miss about this town. awesome public transportation. a coffee place on every block. finding cheap and free stuff everywhere. people who take time for other people. i could go on for awhile, but i won't. i'm so glad i took the chance and moved here, and i will miss portland dearly.

O' Canada

This is my first time visiting our great neighbors to the north. It is surreal, to say the least. I feel like I'm in this weird twilight zone hybrid of the States and England. Its not really anything like what I expected. But then again, I didn't really expect much. What, did I think they would all look like hockey players and wear weird hats and say 'eh' all the time? Lets just say I'm enjoying my time so far with the Canadians.

shows

i generally don't like going to shows anymore - too many people. but tonight was definitely worth fighting the throngs of drunk people. pedro the lion and death cab for cutie for five bucks. and i couldn't even complain about the sound sucking. it was awesome.

good times

alissa and i just got home from matt's birthday party. its so much fun to hang out with cool people. good food, good beer, good conversation, and bottle rockets. it was a good day.

hipster

i just got a haircut from a friend, and now i look super-cute. i couldn't go back to riverside with the same haircut i had when i left, now could i? so now i look like i've been a portland hipster for the summer. or have i?

refreshing

i'm sitting in my living room and its about 95 degrees in here. i felt like having a beer, so i'm sipping on my suds and thinking - whoever said that a cold beer is refreshing must have been a raging alcoholic. if anything, i feel more hot and parched than when i started. i'm tired.

graduate school

i'm finally getting serious about going to graduate school for an MFA. i've spent a lot of time in the past week researching programs and requesting information. my eyes and fingers are tired from spending too much time on the internet. this is a lot of work.

orphan

alissa and i went to the beach near astoria today, and boy was it windy. we were walking near the water at fort stevens state beach and saw this baby bird in the water all by itself and squawking its little head off. it turns out that its a type of bird whose parental style and migration habits make for a high death rate. we did see a lot of dead birds on the beach. so we took it to an area of the beach where the weather wasn't as severe and put it back out in the water. i would love to think that he's doing ok, but unfortunately i know the odds. sometimes nature sucks.

logic

went to craft night at nocturnal last night and sat at a table next to these guys who were downing a pitcher of beer and playing mastermind. it was both sad and amusing to listen to them talk out their train of logic, since it was obviously slowed down quite a bit. but we went home early because alissa and i both felt like crap. all good things must come to an end.

mrs. degree

what is it with girls at christian schools feeling like they're an old spinster if they aren't married by the time they're 22? its like the entire point of life is to be married and produce babies. i want to shake them and ask them if they think they have any value. and the answer is - 'yes, to be a mommie'. aaahhhhh!!!! nooooooo!!!!!!

homesick

i've been living in portland for six weeks now, and i realized today just how homesick i am. i didn't think it would be very bad, but i want to see my friends and family. a lot. i know that three more weeks isn't a long time, but it feels like an eternity.

irritating people

everyone has been irritating me to a much higher degree today than they usually do. my roommate is upset that we threw out her rediculously ugly chair while she was away. we all hated it except her. irritating. everyone on the MAX on my way home today was really loud and self-absorbed. irritating. we had a shower tonight for someone who used to live here and there were a bunch of girls here that i don't know. irritating. aaaaahhhh! i need to be alone and away from irritating people for just one day!

introvert

today was my day off, and i was looking forward to having the house to myself, as i usually do on fridays. but our new roommate had her family and what seemed like half the neighborhood over and going in and out all day long. i just wanted to scream and kick them all out. but i didn't.

coolness

we just came back from last thursday, and boy do i feel completely un-cool. i don't have enough visible tattoos or wear weird enough clothes to feel like i belong at stuff like that. i come away from gatherings of that sort and just feel so plain and homely. sigh.

ironing and the goonies

not ironing the goonies. watched the goonies while i did my ironing. i usually like to iron, but it was too freaking hot. i felt like i was working in a sweatshop or something. at least i had the goonies to help me feel better. goonies never say die!

snot

this morning i had a student coughing and blowing snot all over the desk and me. i was completely grossed out. he was special-ed, so he didn't really realize that what he was doing was totally gross. even though, it was so disgusting.