One more, just one more.

Oh and one very last post of 2008. Have an old shack:

And a Neighbour in an old shack:

Happy New Year

So I figured I'd give 2008 one last hoorah before it gives way to 2009. So, "hoorah, 2008." There's so much to do in 2009, my head is swimming. There's a lot of unknown, too which makes me feel like I'm drowning. What's with the aqua-references? Eh, whatever. Well, here's to uncertainty and here's to your 2009. Toooot.

a caffeinated coma

So, I just did a quick re-design of the blog title and header. Tell me if you like it. My jury's still out but I felt the need for a face lift. I know for a fact I get this need from my mom. Our house completely switches around at least once a month. She usually does it when I'm out and about and when I come back it's like walking into someone else's home. It's a good thing I don't sleep walk. I'd break a lot of bones.

Merry Christmas!

So uh, here at the Young household, we like snowmen. They're cute and we're not ashamed of it. I would post pictures of all the snowmen we have but it's Christmas Eve and all I really want to do is knit and watch "White Christmas" which is, clearly the quintessential Christmas movie and you cannot tell me otherwise. I'm watching it right now. My favorite part is when Betty sings "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" into Bob's eyes and you can feel the tension dripping from stage curtains. Old fashioned angst. Better than chocolate.

Today, neighbour informed me Bing Crosby is on her top 5 list of men whose voices she would marry. I agree.

Back to the snowman thing. Do you see, blurred and obscure, in the second picture a distinctly unwooden pole in the center of our "Christmas tree?" Yes, that is because this year, we have a fake tree. Hhhh, I know. As far as I'm concerned we might as well spit on the Christmas season and those poor carolers out in the rain. Our house doesn't smell like freshly cut pine. It does, in fact, smell like that broccoli we burnt last week which is the exact opposite of Christmas, for it is the smell of Evil. Pure Evil.

Pardon me while I go boil some cinnamon sticks.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Tomorrow, amidst the activity and family, remember to keep Christ the center of your day.

A True Story

Picture this: a crowded grocery store. People merrily shopping for their various Christmas parties and other related functions. Employees smiling and offering assistance. Suddenly, there's a commotion by the checkout lines. A woman with an exasperated look on her face struggles to get in line, dragging one foot behind her. Hmm, curious. You hear a whining sound coming from the general direction of the gimpy foot. You realize no, it is not a genetic defect, no club foot, no broken toes, it's a child. She is latched so firmly to her mother's ankle no amount of hurricane force winds will detach her. She is crying about something. Something about not getting a toy or a snack. You look back up to the mother's face and realize she's not going to stop walking. She's not going to discipline her daughter, she's just going to keep mopping the floor with her offspring and hope no one notices. That look of exasperation on her face? There's something more behind it. Resignation. It's not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last.

It seems like just a small thing, just let her do it, the floors will be so shiny! But, when did this become acceptable? When did parents become afraid of their children? I'm not saying bully them, but some good healthy discipline never hurt, actually, the opposite is true. I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad I had a mother who wasn't afraid to punish me when I did something wrong. She wasn't just empty threats, she followed through. She did it because she loved me and always let me know it. So uh, thanks Mom.

Sorry about the heavy post. I just had to get that off my chest.

S'more Art

Amongst all the negativity I've spouted about this semester, I feel the need to say something positive. Despite my best efforts, I did get a little better at watercolor. It doesn't terrify me quite the same way as it used to. I even produced a painting that I sort of like. It's an interior view of my room (edited for cleanliness. Technically it's what my room would look like if I had any motivation to clean it).

SEE?!

Freedom!

I have just exited the last class of the last day of the semester at crummy State School. OH MAN. I have waited so long for this day. Never again do I have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn, no more ridiculous assignments full of ridiculous subject matter.

I was in the bathroom at school. On my way out I slowed, looked left then right to make sure no one was watching. Then, I snagged a handful of complimentary Tampons and ran out the door. It was my last defiant stand against the semester. I never knew such an adrenaline rush.

I feel horribly guilty.

Procrastinations and Ruminations

Hello, All. It's been weeks and weeks and weeks since the last time I blogged! Well, okay, two weeks. But it felt longer. It's finals season here in Real Life and the stress has driven me to a near catatonic state. Well, the good news is, it's pretty much over tomorrow. The bad news is that I have about 3 weeks worth of work to shove into today.

"Why the hootin' hades are you blogging?!" you ask.
"Well," says I, "I've been needing to blog for awhile and if I just get it out of the way it might help my productivity."
You snort skeptically, I agree.

I've been yanked in a few different directions as far as non-school related things go too. The other night, the coffee shop of my past employment asked if I would be the unofficial photographer for their Christmas party. Of course with my heaps of experience I instantly jumped at the chance to get some exposure. [Lie]

So, on Friday night I put on my best "I'm a photographer and I'm serious about it" outfit and plunged. Here are some shots from the evening. They're pretty grainy because I was shooting with a high ISO. See how I said that like I knew what I was talking about? I googled it.

Caryn was there and snagged the camera for a few shots that of course turned out fabulous. I'm not posting them out of spite.

My mom is in that last blurry picture smoking a pretzel.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Are you thankful? Good. Me too.

Tomorrow is Black Friday. I have never participated in the insanity before but this year my friend, her sister and I are going all the way. That's right my lovelies. They will be at my house at 5 am where we will proceed to kick, elbow and head butt our way to savings, all with a quad latte in hand. I plan to be prepared. My clothes will be laid out tonight, I'm going to clean out my purse to make myself as light and streamlined as possible. I'm already practicing my lightning fast bobbing and weaving: in, out, in, out, duck, spin, dive. So. Excited.

Oh, here's a picture of my hair.

Addictions and Desires

Okay, FINE. It's an addiction. Someone has to take these scissors away from me. My hair may or may not have gotten shorter (twice) since my last post. No pictures because they were terrible.

This weekend was a blast. On Saturday we ended up walking from one end of San Francisco to the other. We smelled a plethora of grassy things (some not so grassy), tried to find a bathroom: failed, were harassed by no less than 3 people, desperately tried to find a bathroom: failed, saw an old man drink a can of something out of the trash, found a bathroom, and ate a grilled artichoke downtown that made the entire walk worth it.

As planned, we swapped girlie stories, watched romantic movies while leisurely sipping wine and giggled late into the night. Well it would have been late into the night but Neighbour's usual bedtime is the elderly hour of 9:00 so she wouldn't let me push it too far. Ruin all my fun...

Also, I took some pictures of Neighbour (and the demon cat of Fleet Street) with Caryn's Nikon care to see? Excellent.






I must get myself one of these camera gadgets.

Also again:

New favorite YouTubed things: jaaaaaaa
New favorite music: Johnny Flynn

Fug or Fab?

On occasion, I switch on the 'ol Photo Booth on my Mac just to check out the situation: food in the teeth, makeup in order, hair arranged. It's vain, I know, but so practical. So tonight I indulged a little just to see what's what and this is what I see (prepare yourselves):

SCREAM!

I'm feeling very vulnerable by showing you this picture, so for my ego's sake pretend there's nothing wrong with it, but the hair! So drab, so blah, so...IGH! I took a break from furiously animating (huge project due tomorrow; % completed: 8) to do some serious maintenance. After consulting some reliable photo reference and floating away on a P!nk cloud, I took scissors to hair and came out with this:

That's right my friends, I have front bangs. I haven't had front bangs since high school (the 90's, must-also-have-braces, solid kind. Say it with me, "dis-as-ter"). You can't really see it in the picture but there's some mean layerage going on here. I'm pretty happy with it. Can't really say I went from fug to fab but we've definitely moved out of the fug phase (if I do say so myself).

I spent the entire wonderful weekend in San Francisco visiting neighbour and the fam. I'm going to have to put off the newsy post until tomorrow if I am to pass my cartooning class. Pictures included. I know, I know, I really shouldn't try so hard but what can I say, I'm a giver.

Pick-me-up

Hhh. Lately I've been feeling a little...how should I put this? Girly? No, definitely not girly. Feminine? No. Femaley? There we go, that's it. Is that more information than you wanted? Is that this "tmi" these whipper snappers talk about these days? I took some alone time and tried to buy my happiness with a movie and a coffee. What. What? Are you telling me I can't cry into Steve Carell's shoulder and drown my sorrows in a hazelnut latte? Don't judge me.

As long as we're bearing our souls here, I'm going to admit something: I can't draw. Well, not anymore anyway. I've been out of practice for so long that my skills are slowly swirling down the crapper. I found this picture from the end of last semester, when I was in my groove. I don't think I ever posted it. It's a bit unfinished but I'm afraid to touch it when I'm in this state of mind. I will rally again! (Note to self: cut back on Jane Austen.)

Laid, Lain, Lay, Lie

These four words, "laid," "lain," "lay" and "lie" are a thorn in my side. To be quite honest, it's embarrassing. Here I am, 22 years old and I can't even speak the king's English. I know "it's" and "its," I know "there," "their" and "they're." I tried Googling it and I got a bunch of stuff that sounds like this,

The confusion lies in that the simple past tense of lie is lay (past participle: lain) and resembles the simple present of lay. Lie= to rest, lie down is an intransitive verb . Lay= to put or place something (on a surface) is transitive.

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS.

Carissa. Help.

Feeling Fallish

Oh. Man. How do I explain this? My excitement for the seasonal changes could only be matched by a 60's screaming pre-teen at a Beatles concert. I think I'm noticing the color changes more this year. I can't wait until I have my own apartment so I can use Fall as my color palette.

Latest obsession: Ballet. Not kidding. I started doing some research for an animation project and suddenly I feel cheated out of pointe shoes and a tutu. Gah, Childhood! Why couldn't you have granted me these things?!

Caryn, my boss, lent me her Nikon D70 for a little photo shoot for some reference material (Also animation project, it's under wraps. Very hush hush. I will eventually spill the beans. It's in my nature. But I digress...). Holy can of beans. It's the best thing I've ever laid hands on. It only took me 2 hours to figure out how to turn off the flash. I can't wait for tomorrow and sunlight to roll around so I can start taking some serious shots. Flex my artistic muscles once again.

I've felt so stifled lately. I think it's because I usually rely so much on my classes to satisfy that art craving but lately the subject matter has been a little...mmm...not my style. I'm actually scheduling free art time so I can just be me.

There are, to be exact, 8 days of blasé art left in this semester. Oh wow. Really? Only 8?! Excellent.

I need some paint chips...

My uncle just bought a new house and I've been deemed responsibility of decorating it. It's a big deal. I told him I'm in an interior design class but what I left out was that I'm doing miserably. In my defense, it's less about the design and more about interior design as an entity. The business and nature of it, so forth and etc. I just had a Miss Teen USA moment. Such as.

I haven't been writing very much lately. Partly because nothing interesting has happened lately. But when has that ever stopped me? The other reason is that I've been busy out the wazoo, and not just lame homework. Real stuff. Work stuff. I love it. I've also discovered not only do I like Photoshop, I'm thinking about marrying it. I do not lie.