Sleep Dep, Poster Paper & Nitrous Branding

Monday - So Sunday night I stayed up late working on a 5-page paper draft, on the topic of the overarching history of poster art, that I thought was due Thursday. Because I thought it was due Thursday, I also spent some of the evening being social, but in retrospect I would have been better off asleep by midnight instead of ridiculous lateness, because I still had to get up in the morning and go to work. Called Grandma on the way to work, to tell her about the job interview on Friday. Work was normal, and I was generally awake and functional, so no harm done. Went home, then realized the five pages were due Tuesday, not Thursday, and tried to work on my paper, really couldn't get a good momentum going until after midnight.

Tuesday - On no sleep, I managed to finish the five-page paper on poster art history. I tied 16th century Japanese Ukiyo-e polychromatic prints through to Jason Munn, so I feel pretty happy with the historical breadth of the five pages, but considering they had to be double spaced, the depth wasn't what I would want. By 7:00 a.m. I had finished the paper. So I moved on to my other homework, which included researching local art communities for a half hour, then writing a paper reflecting on my experiences creating the poster for Hannah that she couldn't ultimately use anyway. That paper read a little bit like it might have been written by a Dickensian drunkard instead of a Nos (and Red Bull and coffee and RockStar) infused, sleep deprived art student. The rest of the day went fine. I went to my chiropractor again for physical therapy on my neck and back. He used laser treatments for the first time. I had to wear safety goggles. He skirted billing questions, so, so I skirted MedPay questions.

Wednesday - I woke up to an "I'm bummed" text from a friend, couldn't think of anything to say really, realized I hadn't really been spending time in scripture lately. Did a little of that. Work day again, slow and a little sloppy. Can't have much more of that or it'll catch up with me. Heard back from the department where I interviewed, accepted an invitation for a second interview next Tuesday. It's tougher this time since I am to "bring anything I want to show," which probably means I need to have better reasons for the fewer pieces I select. Director of Marketing. Gotta impress! Midnight found me still working on homework, a handout for "Today's Working Artist" class, on the topics of the MFA degree as a pyramid scheme, by Karen Kitchel (excellent article), and another on democratic education by bell hooks (which wasn't so compelling, actually.)

A Good Week in the End

Sunday, February 24, 2008 - Went to church at 9 as usual, but a little more dressed up. Lectured and led discussion from 10-11, on the topic of temptation, like I mentioned before. See the last post for my notes. We couldn't find any chalk, so Ajay went and found a thick stub of blue sidewalk chalk, and I scrawled on the blackboard with that. The result was quite messy, but I think the lecture went over pretty well.

After the preaching service the same old crowd, along with Bethany's visiting friend Aundrea the ballet dancer, went to lunch at Eric's Deli Café and chatted it up for a couple hours. I then went home and tried to work on my solo project that would be due on the 26th. Not making much progress, I decided to go over to the office and work there. My idea for the concept was based on Hannah's new blog; I was thinking that of all my friends an Art Nouveau (which was the style I wanted to try) would best fit her style. She encouraged me to look through her pics on Facebook, of which there are thousands.

I didn't get far that night. Which was bad. It was a bad night in general and I stayed up late when I should have just gone to bed. I also had to work on a paper on the Chagoya exhibition, but I didn't do much on that either.

Monday, February 25, 2008 - I was all of a panic. I was on low sleep and would have to work all day then stay up all night finishing the solo project that I had NOT been able to design on the computer and didn't know how to paint. I mean, I literally don't know how to paint. But God's good: I went to the office all dressed in a tie and all for work, only to find that the boss was out and there was nothing to do. I puttered on a few details for an hour, then left for home and homework. I drew and painted all day and all night.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - I hadn't blown it. I had finished it beautifully, by taking my design from the computer, printing it out, tracing it over graphite paper onto foam board, then painting over the outlines. The painting was daunting but the colors were so shocking as to make the creative process a joy even at four in the morning. The following is a lousy phone picture of the final product.

The solo project was well-enough received by my classmates and prof to be considered a moderate success. I got my midterm grade, basically just a progress report from the professor to let us know how we're doing at this juncture. Mine was 100%. I went to Saltworks, a college outreach put out by our sister church, Hillview Bible Chapel. It was good, as we were talking about John 3-4. Talked with this middle-aged black musician named Eric who wants to try to connect with me about doing some kind of music project together. We'll see if anything comes of that. I went back home after study, to work on my painting for my afternoon class, because even though I had missed it last week while vomiting, I was told the project and accompanying one-page paper were due. So I missed the guest speaker who was on campus talking about political cartooning, and did homework until I was so late for class that I had to find my prof in his other class during the next time period just to get it in to him on time. He gave me a quizzical look and told me it wasn't due till Thursday. I went home and crashed.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - I worked all day, then worked on homework for a while, went to Katie's house and watched Eragon, which despite the presences of John Malkovitch, Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou and a cute chick was pretty much uber-lame. Went home and finished my one-page Chagoya critique paper.

Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Read something that made me really sick to my stomach. Bad emotional dayl. Morning class was fine. Got a handout from my professor that was due today but I had never gotten it because it was handed out the day I was sick. Told him I'd finish it and email it to him in the evening. Went to work for an hour and a half. Then went to Color & Design class and turned in the same assignment again. Got that and the previous assignments/papers back by the end of the class; both were A's. Went home, feeling down, pulled together a pile of artwork examples for my interview the next day. Went to Kinkos to get some things printed in color, but they didn't look that hot, so I wondered if it had been worth the time. Got a little road rage, knew it had nothing to do with the guy stealing my parking space. Prayed a lot, went home, crashed.

Friday, February 29, 2008 - Worked all morning, part of the afternoon. Needed to buy myself lunch and get some portfolio folders for my work, but realized I'd left my wallet at home. Drove home at 90 mph and back, still took forever on my lunch break. Boss was gone when I got back, so I printed out some more things to show in my interview, and put things in order. Met with Lori, the head of Graphic Design for the De Anza College Marketing Department, to show her my work and interview for a part-time job. Interview went well, was fun seemed very promising as a career step. Went to pick up Robert to take him to Bible study. Went home, fell asleep for a bit. Got an unexpected call from Ali, which was a good sort of call and left me in a much better mood than the one in which I had been. Went to Bible study, which was on the topic of patience and gentleness, among other things, as well as preserving the bond of unity among believers. All that was good. Got to play a banjo for a while, worked out a couple of Avett Brothers tunes, or at least the skeletons of them. Went home, talked to Brian in my car till 1:30 AM. Went to bed in a generally good mood, thanked God for a good week. Couldn't sleep for a while, so I just kept thanking Him.

Saturday, March 1, 2008 - Woke up mercifully late. Talked with my parents good-naturedly for a while about this and that, in my pajamas. Changed and mowed the lawns. Got green stuff all over my hands and my brown boot-cut cords. Went to get coffee and run some errands. Decided to do my devotions with my coffee at 'Bux. Buccino came in with Jake Galleau, and we talked about blazing and boy scouts while drinking Tony's concoctions of iced tea and Red Bull. Gave them a ride back to the Buccino residence and visited with their family a bit. Watched Tony sand some boards, then gave him my burned copy of this album:

...because I was pretty sure he'd dig it. Came home and researched building bookshelves and closet shelving, pretty much wasted the evening instead of doing homework.

Oh The Times Return, With a Bit of Nausea

I have been writing again. A lot. So much that it overflows into stuff, and gets on my shoes. It occurs to me it might help to begin chronicling again. The factual nature of this blog was very therapeutic in complicated times before. But never mind the reasons. I see now that this blog wasn't just for the summer of the dreams, but also for the winter of the puke.

To elaborate, I have spent a good deal of time this winter being sick. This is not because I have a poor immune system, so much as that I still think I am invincible, and have been diligently ignoring the memo that I am over 25 and a mere mortal. I'll explain more as I go on.

2007 E.B.O. (Extremely Brief Overview to be Filled in Later with Vague References to Things I Haven't Mentioned Yet) - Having finished my BA in Government Studies back in April of 2007, I went back to school last quarter (Fall 2007) at De Anza College, pursuing a new career direction in earnest: graphic design. No, I am not crazy, I am happier. By sheer accident I picked the one community college in my area that specializes in the arts. It actually is supposedly the best in the state of California. It's not hard to believe, because with only one exception in two quarters my profs have been outstanding. By the end of December I had a 4.0 in the Arts Department. (curse you, lingering Spanish grades!) Getting this GPA involved four all-nighters, which each time left me reeling the next day.

December helped me recoup and detox (all that caffeine, basically) in time to eat a lot of cookies, then stop eating altogether, replacing my entire diet with water and a general sense of guilt. I decided that I was poorly (as opposed to well-)read, and I needed to do something about it, and further resolved to start with science fiction and whatever else came into my mind. I drank a wonderful array of hot beverages while reading the following:





Unfortunately you have to read a lot more than 10 books over Christmas break to consider yourself well-read, and most would insist that that list isn't where they would start. But whatever.

2008 So Far - For New Years, My boss had the coughing chest flu from hell, which he promptly gave me with the instructions to duplicate ten times, distribute the copies to the office and my friends, and keep the original.

I traveled to Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina (respectively) from Thursday January 10 through Tuesday the 15th of January, for Jeremy Sewall's wedding. I was honored to be a groomsman and also to sing a song in the wedding. Bachelor party Thursday night, rehearsal dinner Friday night, wedding Saturday, drive back to Virginia Sunday, spending the weekend primarily with Knepper, Jimson and Mouse, but also spending time in protracted conversation with old friends David Sewall and Samantha Clark, and making at least one new friend in Jeremy Shull. During this phase I was miserable not only because I was sick and missing the second and third class sessions of all my Winter 2008 quarter classes, but because I am hard on myself when I am traveling. I don't work too well with jet lag, usually telling myself to ignore it, then feeling crappy. Nor do I work too well within the realm of "bachelor parties which are relatively clean but nonetheless driven by huge Cuban cigars and scotch," because apparently "losing weight" can translate literally to "becoming a lightweight." Last time I drank in any quantity (read: years ago), I was 30-40 pounds heavier, and the speed with which the 160lb version of me can get tossed was rapid. I found myself faced with this choice: (1) give in to the reeling nausea or (2) hold it in and get reeeeeallly drunk trying. Yeah, I let it all out. Felt pretty stupid. Drunkenness is not among the things I shoot for in life. Not gonna do that again. Needless to say I was more careful over the remainder of the weekend with the rest of the gallon jug of scotch that James and I had bought. James and I drove down to North Carolina to see Paul, help inspect his land holdings, do some sand-leveling and waste rifle ammunition, during the process of which we were hosted by his always delightful family, and accompanied by Daniel B. MacAdam and wife and clan of delightful rowdy youngsters. I flew out of Raleigh. Note to self: easier to fly out of Raleigh than to drive back up to Baltimore every time.

Upon return, I still wasn't well, and I was burned out from all the travel, but had to turn to catching up with classes. January was generally uneventful, except that I had a few surprises. (1) I needed to buy very expensive software as NOT defined in the Flash CS3 class description or materials and (2) I needed to know how to paint, as NOT defined in the class description or prerequisites of my "Color & Design" class.

College - I have one professor who is outstanding (ARTS-3TE "Today's Working Artist" - E. Rodriguez), one who is online and thus too impersonal even though helpful (ARTS-114.63Z Flash CS3 - P. Bruegger), and one who is not very good, though a very nice guy (ARTS-012 "Color & Design" - P. Chandras). I am still trying to get A's, but since most of it isn't actually studio work, and that which is seems mostly rote, I admit I am less motivated.

Career - I have an interview next week with the De Anza College Marketing Department for a job helping in Graphic Design. All I did was walk into the Marketing Department office suite one day after classes and inquire if I could help in any way. The gal I spoke with seemed very pleasantly surprised, and said, yes as a matter of fact they need a student employee right now. Considering my boss just gave me an unlooked-for raise, I think he knows he doesn't want to lose me, so I may find myself working two graphic design jobs in March, which makes me quite happy to think about.

Friday (today) - To bring things up to date, it's Friday February 22 (although I didn't start this post today.) Got really sick Wednesday night with either the flu or food poisoning, so there's the second nausea reference, and missed work and classes yesterday. Still a bit under the weather today, but mostly fine. I intend to work all week on homework and preparing a lecture for Basic Christian Training class I will be delivering at church Sunday. (That's another thing that happened last fall; they pulled me in to help teach Advanced Christian Training, and now that that class is over, they recruited me for BCT. I feel a little bit underqualified, but they think I'm doing a good job, so I guess that's cool.)