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thank god the tenenbaums are ready for me at the library. i really need to see them. it's time for my circa tri-annual the royal tenenbaums viewing. i should just buy the movie. it's the only movie i see regularly (although sex, lies, videotape and amelie and the science of sleep are very repeatable too). did you participate in bench monday? it was kind of strange to see all the benches/legs in my flickr contacts' photos. strange, but fun. i had to join in. now i'm finding myself making mental notes of potential bench photo shoot locations out about town. there are a lot of cute benches in this city.
just one friday flickr from sirigood weekends!
making some covers for cd mixes. bigger/different views over on flickr. fun to watercolor on colored non-watercolor paper.
i like using highlighters with watercolors.thursday flickrs
from a watercolor queen: 1.01.09from terese, queen of quiet moments filled with tendernessimmeubles parisiens: beautiful greys
crazy beautiful out today. been riding my bike lately. riding my bike reminds me of living in santa cruz and lund, sweden (the only places i've lived where i rode my bike regularly).
in santa cruz, i rode my bike most when i lived off of emeline street. in the summer before my last semester in college, i worked on the porter paint crew, painting dorm rooms and hallways. i would ride my bike to the bus stop and put it on the bus. (the road to campus was very steep.) that was such a fun job, mostly because we painted in teams, carrying a ghettoblaster around with us. there were about ten of us on the paint crew and we didn't know each other beforehand. somehow painting beige walls and trim eight hours a day, wearing the same paint-spattered clothes all the time and listening to scratchy tapes invites silliness, practical jokes, mayhem and fast friendships (and bad paint jobs). {i ate my first (of three in my life!) pot brownie on the paint crew. it had no effect on me other than to make me giggle hysterically for about ten minutes.} after a day of physical work and silliness, and of breathing paint fumes, riding my bike ride down the hills and over to my house was perfect—cleansing and invigorating.
in lund, i rode my crap bike everywhere sans helmet. (i don't remember anyone wearing helmets there.) when i arrived in lund, i learned that most people got their bikes at these bike auctions. almost all the bikes at the auctions were junky (and stolen i'm guessing). i had know idea which bike to bid on because one couldn't get up close to them or test them out, so i bid randomly. i think my orange, rusty junker cost about 40 bucks. it had one speed and was rough riding, but it had a comfy seat and a basket in front (important features!), and it got me around fine that year, over cobblestones and through snow and darkness.
what is my point? no point. just funny how memories rest in certain movements/actions. and it's time for new sf bike adventures!
i smelled the jasmine scent about ten feet from this yard i was about to pass today. i (somewhat frantically) whirled around looking for where it was coming from. i need that! upon spying the bush behind a low fence, i ever so casually snapped off a piece. when i got home i went a bit bonkers photographing the little stolen sprig. rynke: SO nice
jen, sarah and i visited a friend and her chickens in the outer sunset today. it was quite chilly out there, but lydia, gracie and henrietta were scooting around the backyard and didn't seem bothered by the chill. they were gathered under a large, billowing, fragrant rosemary bush when we arrived, but they came out for snacks and to cluck at us and do some laps around the yard. their clucking is remarkably reassuring. it really feels like they're chatting like little old ladies or something. not about anything life shattering. just harmless comments to make the time pass and be social.
that brown beauty with the pea comb and with her eye on you at the bottom is gracie (i believe), and she seems very curious and funny. she is my favorite.
anyhow, in our backyard community garden dreams chickens roost. but it looks like that won't happen in my yard because my landlord probably won't allow it. but it will happen in jen and bob's near future yard! i can see it now!
since i recently finished a (primarily print) graphic design program, i've been looking for graphic design jobs. it's a pretty rough job market right now given that many talented and experienced designers are being laid off. and most of the jobs available are for higher level designers or web/flash designers. so i've been considering other jobs in the interim, but it's so hard to know what to look for. i used to do administrative work and editing. and while i wouldn't mind doing this part time, i would rather not do it full time.
i keep mulling over what i really like and what i like to do/think about:
books
sustainable agriculture
reading fiction, nonfiction, blogs (you might think this would fall under books, but for books, i actually mean the physicality of books and the design of books.)
writing/editing
hanging out with old people
sewing/making
taking walks
organizing gatherings (this one is a bit odd since i'm an introvert. but i'm an introvert who likes to be social {in spurts and as long as i can go home and turtle after}. i'm just realizing this lately, that i like to organize little events—well i suppose i like the planning more than the hostessing.)i wish there was a way to combine my interests in craft, design, writing and sustainable agriculture. i'd like to do design work for CSAs and for programs/blogs/organizations that support alternatives to industrial agriculture. (check out this great program i read about on civil eats. i want to design for them!)i (less seriously) think about doing a wwoof internship or applying to a sustainable agriculture-related master's degree program at uc davis.
i think about starting a green design studio with fellow classmates and artists who are in a similar position.
i think about dropping the class i'm taking, after our current project is done, and offering pro bono design services to my own csa, terra firma farms. it just seems like a better use of my time (both for the csa and for my own learning).
although it's terribly scary, it seems like now might be especially the time to dream bigger and not choose the safe route. though at the same time, i really need money asap, so i may have to go the safe route temporarily. all of this is alternately exciting and overwhelming/depressing/debilitating to think about. being unemployed is a roller coaster and it's really starting to wear me down!
i just can't get enough of these mailboxes. they are so pretty. i like the way people stick numbers on them, and the numbers fall off. i like the paint and dents and stickers and rust and chipped off bits. the flower shaped ventilation holes (or whatever those holes are—maybe they're so you can see if you have mail without opening the box). the missing doorbells, the missing nametags, the missing key hole covers. so beat up and so beautiful! i imagine it's pretty hard to get a lot of bigger envelopes in there though. these were clearly made before the advent of junk mail.
tonight, handmade nation!
too much time in front of the computer this weekend.
time to go out into the beautiful weather.
it's about time to start an alemany farmers' market set.
the precita eyes murals (and the diversity of farmers) make this market one of the most beautiful places in the bay area in my opinion.
i love how certain sellers seem to choose their stalls based on the mural.
i actually don't need to go to the market so much since i subscribe to a fantastic csa. but i go to spend time with friends and to experience the market and its saturated colors. i also like having something i do regularly on saturday mornings. (foods i do buy at the market include olive oil, honey, nuts, dried fruit and the occasional non-csa treat {asparagus today}).
i am constantly forgetting/remembering how fun drawing is. k + p made a wonderful drawing last night that should definitely be made into a commemorative (of their sf visit) t-shirt. they also, along with erica, helped me with a homework assignment. some day i will share the results of it here maybe. it involves the adventures of a shaggy-lipped, teddy bear centaur.
last night i had the first restful sleep i've had in over a week i think. i feel both rejuvenated and tired. i had been running on some weird nervous, distracted, excited energy there for a bit.
k o p, vi ses i sverige snart hoppas jag.
by my cousin karin, peter and myself. we doodled while sitting for a long time at it's a grind cafe.
peter grew up over there on the left hand side of the drawing (near the bottom), in the orange house that is sparkling like a gem. that is the road one takes to his house, past the track field. many people miss that last stretch of road and just follow the dotted lines.
there was a reindeer in the forest nearby where he grew up of course, with a candle for a tail. or that carried a candle around on his butt. you know it gets dark in northern(ish) sweden. (at first i thought that the reindeer was yawning/showing his mouth, but i think that's actually his velvety nose. which is it peter?)
not having any siblings, i am finding it very comforting to have karin and peter in sf for a few weeks. i like just knowing that they're over there on polk street. i will miss them when they go.
