Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Inspiration strikes... in the kneecaps.. with a tire iron.

It feels good to paint again. I've said before, whether I have any talent or not remains to be seen, but it's keeps the brain sane and the fingers nimble.

It's been a few months since I've had any luck even starting, let alone finishing any works. The last one that has been dancing around in my mind was beginning to aggravate yours truly, as all preliminary sketches inevitable met their fate in the bottom of the wastebasket, victims of my inability to match pictures in my head to what ends up on paper -- an inevitability that leads me to lament that again, I have found a hobby in which I have a mediocre talent. Oh, to be a prodigy at some pursuit or another. But no, in artistic endeavours I tend to hover in the range of 'Okay' to 'Pretty good', sometimes finding myself in the territory of 'halfway decent'.

But anyway, so I decided to do away with the preliminary sketch portion of the show, as all it seemed to accomplish was furthering my awareness of my lack of proportioning skills. I jumped to the canvas, and just starting flinging color at it, and it's turning out well, *almost* the way I want it. The paint eventually became too thick for any smaller detail work, but the gist is there, and I can finish the details at a later date. Par for the course when working in acrylics, I suppose. Layer, layer, layer.

It feels pretty damn splendid to sit here, with my hair dishevelled, picking acrylic paint from my arms and legs, and to look with wonder at the ever growing blotches of random color on what has become my 'Painting/Hairdying/whatnot' shirt

Maybe when I'm done this one, I'll post a pic. Meh, maybe not. We'll see.

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On a side note, one thing about my job that makes me laugh is that I get to see the attempts by HR at some companies to make the job more fun and interesting.

Case in Point: A biotech company out of Victoria BC holds an annual conference for it's employees called... wait for it, you're gonna love this... Genopalooza.

I laughed. I couldn't help but picture a bunch of research scientists (who I don't doubt many are probably a total riot) running around screaming 'GENE SYNTHESIS, FUCK YEAH!!' And then planning to go smoke a fattie after the keynote on Ion Chromatography.

There's a Compilation CD available in the conference 'Swag Bags' as well as cartoons created by staff. I nearly peed. This, of course, begs the question... What kind of music goes on a CD inspired by Genetic research? If it's out there, I want a copy. This should be good.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

No bass, but lots of treble.

Been meaning to write up a little blog, but I've been sick off my ass since saturday night with what has turned out to be a throat infection. No shit? That would explain the glands that are swollen to the size of a goiter. Sexxy. I expect to see a big loss at WW this week, considering I've barely eaten in three days since it was so damned uncomfortable. That and I didn't go last week, because last wednesday was insanely busy with the grad and the formal and whatnot.

The grad ceremony was about as fun as could be expected, which was moderately fun. My classmates and I made innapropriate comments out of envy over the getups those with higher levels of education are obligated to wear to such events. Apparently the more education you become, the more expected it is to look like someone out of a renaissance fair. But it's tradtional right? We also speculated on why so little of the soci department faculty showed, and decided it was probably because it's so ritualistic and all. :-P

But anyway, my dad and my two grandmothers were able to make it, and I giggled at dad attempting to handle both a videocamera AND a regular digital cam.

We had lunch in The Last Class, and I ran into Sam and Jade outside on the patio, which was fantastic, because I haven't seen Sam in weeks. We're supposed to be hitting Monsoons for sushi and martinis on friday night, so that should be fun.

Rushed home to attempt to do my hair, and discovered the hard way that hot rollers are not meant to be put into wet hair, because then they do SWEET FUCK ALL. Had to do it all over again, but the results were acceptable the second time around. Dan, as always was a great date, even picked up a corsage, and we laughed upon discovering that we were color co-ordinated (red dress, red shirt).

The TLC put on a pretty nice meal, stuffed chicken breast with rosemary potatoes and vegetables, then cheesecake for dessert drizzled with table cream and cinnamon. Orgasm on a plate, it was. Many pictures were taken, some dancing was done, and Andie had a few too many since Dan, being the good date he was offered to drive that night.

Sooo work work workitty work for the next day or two, got some nice praise from my boss and supervising co-worker on some work I had done with trade shows, so go me.

Saturday, after a long, very interesting and at times highly amusing conversation with friend, that answered a lot of questions that had been swimming in my head, I dropped my girls off at their aunties house and went and picked up my dad, so we could head down to T.O. to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I had bought the tickets for his birthday last year, and they expire at the end of June, so it was a now or never kind of thing. It's hard to get him or mom to go to the city on a weekend when they are there all week. We drove down to yorkdale and took the subway from there, because the HHF is all the way downtown and between driving and parking, it's easier to just take the subway -- Sammi and I learned this the hard way when we went to get the tickets last summer... on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR, with NO AC.

It was a nice day, we got to talk a lot, and go out for lunch. Unfortunately by the time it was time to go home I feeling pretty shitty, so when Nicky made dinner for everyone, I could maybe get down a couple of mouthfuls of chicken and perhaps six beans.

So sunday I was dead on my ass all day, as was Tierney. Reagan had full run of the house, so I imagine it was pretty scary when my mom got there with ginger ale and all manner of OTC ephemera. So the past couple days have been movie days, but I HAVE to go back to work tomorrow, I can't afford to miss another day, there's already going to be 3-4 days knocked off this pay period. Gah.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Blogitty blog blog blog.

I'm working again, fulltime, for the first time in nearly four years (three years of school, plus one year of mat leave). That job my sister got me that was supposed to be a one week temp job got parlayed into a fulltime summer job. I hate job-hunting with a passion, so this works well for me. I spend 8 hours a day looking up addresses for lab supply manufacturers and dealers and listen to music.

Tomorrow is my Tierneys' birthday, she's gonna be a big six years old. Happy birthday sweetheart.

Trying to get my passport info together for the summer trip to cali. Been working with wendy, one of sammis other bridesmaids about dresses. It's a tough call because we'll all pretty different body shapes, but she's got one in mind that might just work for everyone.

Speaking of weddings, I'm about to become a sister-in-law again. My sister and her man have decided to get married next june, sO i'm lined up to be a bridesmaid, and the girls as flower girls. I didn't get to be in her last wedding, I was too broke to afford a dress, so I opted to be her videographer instead. So, I look at it this way, I didn't waste my presences on the last wedding :-P The poor girl seems to think I'm not happy for her. Not the case, I'm very happy for her, just not the girly 'squealing-and-jumping-up-and-down type'

Still smoke free, rapidly approaching the three month mark. Also down 14 and a half lbs. New clothes, new hairdo, feeling pretty damn sexy.

My graduation ceremony is on wednesday, with a formal dinner and dance afterwards. Looking forward to that, a chance to get all dressed up and prettyful. Dan, who I have managed to finagle into accompanying me called today to tell me he's gotten a suit -- what a sweetheart, I'm glad he's coming. It's sure to be fun.

Started playing baseball two weeks ago, in a ladies slow-pitch league, which has been fun. Last week I managed to hit the ball into fair territory, and I also caught a ball in play, so it was a productive game for me. We may have even won, I'm not sure though. My friend kaylee signed up as well, and is on my team, so that's cool.

My migratory instincts have been kicking in again. I'm in severe need of a roadtrip.... somewhere close enough that the gas costs and the need for time off work won't cripple me financially, but far enough that I feel like I've been somewhere. Unfortunately, for the time being, this leaves Fort Frances out of the running, which is a shame because I miss the hell out of melissa, as well as eric and my awesome little goddaughter sydney. The time off is a big factor in that one, as it takes two days to get to her place if it's just me driving, and then I usually want to stick around two or three nights... so that's like a weeks vacation. I'm hoping I *might* be able to do it in the fall, but let's face it, I'm unable to commit to it any time soon. Depends on how my savings are doing, and where I am working at that point.

I'm hoping I can take a weekend trip somewhere, over a long weekend perhaps. I've already got the Cali trip, which is fantastic as far as seeing new things goes, but I don't know if air travel is gonna hold the same satisfaction for me as the open road. I've had metric on my mp3 player and I flash back to quebec last year, and I want it again, me and the highway. I think I was perhaps destined to be a truck driver, but somehow things got fouled up in the main offices of providence. *sigh* Perhaps it's better this way. As much I love road travel, I don't know how I would do in an 18wheeler. Probably more machine than I could handle.

Ramble ramble ramble. in any case, that's me lately. Not much to say that can't be done in a bi-weekly to monthly update. Cheers, all.

Friday, May 11, 2007

I'm always late with stuff

I wish I had of discovered the pixies like TEN years ago. Thanks to some people around here, I've been a little obsessed.

While not my favorite song by them, the imagery in this one is haunting. If someone sang it to me, I wouldn't know whether to be touched, or run like hell.


CACTUS
Sitting here wishing on a cement floor
Just wishing that I had just something you wore

I put it on when I go lonely
Will you take off your dress and send it to me?

I miss your kissin' and I miss your head
And a letter in your writing doesn't mean you're not dead
Run outside in the desert heat
Make your dress all wet and send it to me

I miss your soup and I miss your bread
And a letter in your writing doesn't mean you're not dead
So spill your breakfast and drip your wine
Just wear that dress when you dine

P I X I E S

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor
Just wishing that I had just something you wore

Bloody your hands on a cactus tree
Wipe it on your dress and send it to me

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor
Just wishing that I had just something you wore